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China and Japan 



By 

Mrs. EMMA P. K. TRAWICK, 

SoocHow, China 



ILLUSTRATED 










Louisville, Kentucky 

John P. Morton & Company, Publishers 

1902 



OOMGRESS, 

C!.AS«< O. XXr No. 
COPV R. 



Copyright, 1902, 
W. C. Kendrick, Louisville, Kentucky. 



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THE SEPARATION FROM WHOM HAS BEEN ONE OF 

THE SOREST TRIALS OF MY LIFE, 
THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED. 



INTRODUCTION 

Lest, perchance, this little volume come into the hands 
of some who are not familiar with the circumstances that 
called it forth, it may not be out of place here to give its 
raison d^etre, and to explain, at least in part, the appar- 
ently disconnected form in which the book appears. 

On November 6, 1900, Miss Emma Penton Kendrick, 
of Louisville, Kentucky, was married to Doctor John D. 
Trawick, of Nashville, Tennessee, They left immediately 
for San Francisco, from which place they sailed for their 
new home in China. Doctor Trawick is an associate 
surgeon in the Methodist Hospital at Soochow. Her 
letters from this far-off Eastern land were so very inter- 
esting that many friends requested that they be given to 
the public, and some of them were accordingly published 
in a leading newspaper of Louisville, her native city. 
Many complimentary things were said of them, and many 
requests were made that they be put in a more permanent 
form. Some few of these are printed as an appendix to 
this book. It is in response to these requests that this 
little volume appears. 

These letters were not designed for publication, and 
when the writer was asked to edit them for this purpose 



vi INTRODUCTION 

she objected, saying that they were too crude and hur- 
riedly written to be so honored, and asked that the "book 
idea " be dropped. Only when it was represented to her 
that the letters might open the eyes and hearts of those 
who read them to a better understanding of the needs of 
these strange people would she give her consent. 

It is with this idea solely that you are asked to give this 
little volume your indulgent attention, and it is hoped that 
whether they remain a long or short time in the work in 
which they are now engaged the impress of the life and 
character of this young couple may not fail, and that the 
skill of the consecrated surgeon may be honored of Him 
in whose name they went. 



W. C. K. 



Louisville, Kentucky, 

December, 1902. 



CONTENTS 
Chapter I 



PAGE 



A Day in Honolulu, i 

Chapter II 
Shanghai — Some First Impressions, 4 

Chapter III 

Soochow — Some Scenes on the Way and in Our 

Home, 7 

Chapter IV 

A Walk Through the Streets of Soochow, and a 

Visit to the Foreign Concession 12 

Chapter V 
A Chinese Feast of Twenty-three Courses, ... 16 

Chapter VI 
A Visit to the Quaint Shops of China, .... 19 

Chapter VII 

Some Interesting Scenes in Soochow — Farmers, 

Water Wheel, etc., 23 

Chapter VIII 

A Glimpse into a Buddhist Temple — The Idols and 

the Priests 26 

Chapter IX 
A Slow-Boat Trip from Soochow to Sung Kong, . 29 



viii CONTENTS 



Chapter X 



PAGE 



A Visit to a Native Flower Garden and a " Leaning 

Pagoda " near Soochow, 34 

Chapter XI 
Some Interesting Sights Along the Canals, • • • 37 

Chapter XII 
Rice Planting, 40 

Chapter XIII 
Some Incidents of the Hospital Work, . ... 43 

Chapter XIV 
A Letter from a Penitent Pupil 48 

Chapter XV 
Off for Japan, 52 

Chapter XVI 
Traveling by Rail in Japan, 57 

Chapter XVII 
A Night in a Japanese Hotel, 60 

Chapter XVIII 
High Up in the Mountains of Japan, 63 

Chapter XIX 
A Trip to Komoro, 67 

Chapter XX 
The Ascent of Asama-Yama, 70 



CONTENTS ix 

Chapter XXI 



PAGE 



Delights at Karuizawa other than Mountain Climbing, 7 5 

Chapter XXII 
Doctor Trawick's Mist-Soldiers, ....... 77 

Chapter XXIII 
Leaving Karuizawa and a Stop in a Japanese Hotel 

in Kyoto, 79 

Chapter XXIV 
Visits to Temples in Kyoto, 85 

Chapter XXV 
A Visit to 'the "Red Cross Hospital" at Tokio, . 90 

Chapter XXVI 
A Few Queer Signs Caught on the Run, .... 93 

Chapter XXVII 
At Nagasaki on the Return to China, 96 

Chapter XXVIII 
Some Chinese Callers and Their Peculiarities, . . 99 

Chapter XXIX 
Some Articles on the Bill of Fare of the Chinese, . 102 

Chapter XXX 
A Real Chinese Feast in the Home of a Friend, . 105 

Chapter XXXI 
A Dinner Given to the American Consul, His Excel- 
lency the Governor of the Province, and other 
Officials, 108 



X CONTENTS 



Chapter XXXII 



PAGE 



A Tragedy in the Hospital — Experiences with an 

Epidemic, ill 

Chapter XXXIII 

A Reception to the Ladies of Soochow, and Some 

Interesting Incidents, 1 14 

Chapter XXXIV 

An Exciting Experience on Bimonthly Trip to Sung 

Kong, 119 

Chapter XXXV 

Milk from Water Buffalo — Making Butter — DriUing 

of Soldiers, 126 

Chapter XXXVI 

Feast at Home of Chinese Friend — On Whang-poo 

River — Bride and Groom, 130 

Chapter XXXVII 
Chinese New Year — Trip to the " Hills, " . . . .135 

Chapter XXXVIII 

Queer Mode and Experiences in Traveling — House- 
boat — Wheelbarrow — Carriage, 140 

Chapter XXXIX 

Funeral Procession — Wedding Procession — Punish- 
ment for Petty Crimes, 144 

Chapter XL 
Chinese Superstitions, 147 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



OPPOSITE PAGE 



Emma Kendrick Trawick, Frontispiece 

Typical Scene in Japanese Village, 2 

Coaling at Nagasaki — Nagasaki Harbor, ... 8^ 

On Soochow Creek, China, 28 

Tea House and Lotus Pond, 34 

John D. Trawick, 44 

Smoke of Asama-Yama as Seen from Top of the 
Volcano — Mrs. Trawick on Brow of Mountain, 

Komoro, Japan, 70 

The Home of a Wealthy Chinaman, 98 

A Group of Friends, 108 

Soochow Creek, near the City of Soochow, China, . 1 32 

Medical Houseboat and City Wall of Soochow, . 144 



China and japan 



China and Japan 

CHAPTER I 

A Day in Honolulu 

This glorious morning, with the sun shining in all of 
its splendor on a sea of glass, I am up on deck for the 
first time for several days. This is the finest day we 
have seen since leaving San Francisco. Our day in 
Honolulu was perfect. We landed there on Monday 
evening, November 26, at nine o'clock. Next morning, 
after a delightful breakfast on shipboard, we started out 
to see the island. First we went to the hotel, which is a 
pretty white building with great verandas, and tropical 
plants growing in such profusion that it looked like mid 
summer. We hired a rubber-tired buggy for the day, and 
oh! how we did enjoy that drive, first around the little 
city, then out through the valley across the island, with 
the mountains towering high on each side of us, and the 
clouds ranging around their summits. At the end of 
this drive is a precipice called the Pali, which has a 
thrilling history. In the wars between the natives of 
different islands of the Hawaiian group, a conquering 
tribe drove the natives of this island up the long valley 
through which we had just come. The natives were so 
surrounded that escape was impossible. It is said that 
many hundreds threw themselves over the precipice, fall- 
ing a thousand feet to destruction. A well built road 
now finds its way down this rocky mountain wall to the 



2 CHINA AND JAPAN 

plain below. As we stood on a prominent point over- 
hanging the precipice we could look away over the 
valley stretching out to the sea, and further to the sun- 
set, there to catch the misty blue outlines of a mountain 
on an island said to be a hundred miles away. 

We got back to the hotel at twelve o'clock, when we 
had lunch, or "tiffin," as they call it. We saw many of 
our traveling companions at the hotel and on the streets 
of Honolulu, and it really was funny how we greeted 
each other with delight, when we probably had not 
spoken to each other on shipboard. In the afternoon 
we drove to Weikiki Beach, the now famous resort for 
surf bathing. 

I wish I could tell you of the banana farms — the 
cocoanut palms — of whole hedges of hybiscus, the most 
brilliant red and delicate pink. By the time we reached 
the hotel my lap was full of the most beautiful flowers, 
which we had gathered along the way. It is a week now 
since we left Honolulu, and those flowers are fresh and 
beautiful yet. Late that afternoon we drove up " Punch 
Bowl," which overlooks the city. There we were, hun- 
dreds of feet above the city, yet so near we could hear 
the crying of children and the barking of dogs. 

The late afternoon was spent seeing the city of Hono- 
lulu, visiting the stores, where I purchased a real 
Hawaiian straw hat. As night came on we went aboard 
our steamer, and by nine o'clock were slowly gliding out 
to sea, on our way to Yokohama and the East. 




Typical Scene in Japanese Village. 



CHINA AND JAPAN 3 

It is needless for me to try to describe the queer sights, 
for letters which I received from here before coming did 
that beautifully. It really is impossible to comprehend 
what it is all like until you see it yourself. 

You should see how the children carry the babies on 
their backs. The women are small, and they have their 
hair fixed up in the strangest way on the top of 
their heads, with so many pretty, queer little ornaments. 
They wear kimonas ; when it gets cold they put on 
several. We counted the sleeves of five on one woman 
to-day. When they get into the train they take off 
their shoes and stand up on the seat, then sit down on 
their feet. 

We went through one of their big bazaars or stores in 
Tokio, where they have everything to sell. We bought 
several rolls of Japanese paper and envelopes. 

Our day ashore was completed by a lunch in a Japa- 
nese restaurant in Tokio. Trains run every few minutes 
from Yokohama to the capital, so it was a novel experi- 
ence for us in every way — the ride on a real railway 
in Japan, a tramp through the busy streets of Tokio, 
a visit to a Japanese bazaar, and finally the lunch in the 
little restaurant, served by smiling Japanese girl-wait- 
resses, with just enough of a mixture of Orientalism with 
the "alphabet" soup and the tender beefsteak to give 
to the whole an unusual spice. 

We next touch at Kobe, then Nagasaki ; from this 
latter point I will mail my account of our day ashore 
at Nagasaki. 



CHAPTER II 

Shanghai — Some First Impressions 

Here we are actually in Shanghai, China! Our last to 
you was mailed at Nagasaki, Japan. We left there at five 
o'clock in the afternoon, after having taken on 1,070 
bushels of coal since nine in the morning. You know 
Nagasaki is a great coaling station. These little Japs 
form themselves into a human ladder, the one at the bot- 
tom loading the basket with coal and passing it on up, from 
one Jap to another, till it finally reaches the ship's hold. 
It is a sight to be seen nowhere else except at Nagasaki. 
The China Sea, which we cross between Japan and Shang- 
hai, is usually very rough — that is, the swell is a queer 
one, that gives the ship a very unpleasant motion. Very 
few ladies ventured down to seven o'clock dinner, but I 
was a pretty good sailor and managed to eat my dinner 
and go on deck afterward. The motion of the ship on 
this sea is "corkscrew-like," which makes one feel very 
queer. People who are not seasick even on a very rough, 
high sea can't stand the motion of this China Sea, 

When we awoke on Monday morning we were an- 
chored off Shanghai, or rather at the mouth of the 
Whangpoo River. Then we took a tug and went four- 
teen miles up this river to Shanghai. We did not reach 
the jetty until noon. There was quite a party of friends 
to meet us at the landing and give us a cordial welcome. 



CHINA AND JAPAN 5 

The day was clear and cold and beautiful, so my first 
impressions of Shanghai were very favorable. Shanghai 
is a peculiar city, very cosmopolitan. Walking along 
some streets they seem to be purely Chinese ; then you 
turn right off one of these into a street that looks — well, 
not exactly American, still nothing like Chinese. Some 
streets are quite broad, while others are very narrow. 
One will see a handsome victoria with two ladies seated 
in it, dressed in the latest English style, wrapped in 
handsome furs, with two Chinamen on the box in front, a 
coachman and a footman, dressed in livery, which means 
their native garment. This livery is made of green 
broadcloth with gilt braid about the edges, a Chinese cap 
on the head, and their queue hanging down the back. 
The queue and the costume are startling contrasts. 

This morning I went to market. It was lots of fun. 
The market is a tremendous big shed, like the big mar- 
kets you see in the South, and it seemed to me there 
were millions of Chinese swarming about. I never saw 
anything to equal the cheapness of some of the food here. 
We bought sixteen grape fruit, three dozen oranges, and 
a big bunch of bananas for $1.30 in gold. Fruit is used 
a great deal at " tiffin," or lunch. 

I must tell you about our first Christmas in far-away 
China. In the afternoon we went about two miles over 
into another part of the city, to the Central Methodist 
Church, to their Christmas celebration. The church is a 
nice, large brick building, with a seating capacity of five 



6 CHINA AND JAPAN 

hundred, the parsonage adjoining. We got there a little 
late, and were told by the Chinaman at the door that we 
could not get in the front door, as the room was crowded, 
but he showed us a side door, which admitted us. I got a 
seat right behind Mrs. Bishop Wilson. Doctor Trawick 
had to stand. It was a very impressive as well as novel 
sight to me to see that room crowded to its uttermost 
with Chinese, a few missionaries scattered through the 
congregation. It was just such a looking room and en- 
tertainment as the Sunday-schools at home have been 
having for years. Bright-faced, happy children, older 
boys and girls, merry and interested smaller girls, four 
and five years old, standing up and reciting their little 
pieces in such low tones one could scarcely hear their 
voices; boys a little older reciting in a sing-song tone and 
rocking their bodies from side to side for all the world like 
our American boys do, the only difference being that these 
speeches were in Chinese, except one or two in English. 
It was delightful to hear those five hundred Chinese chil- 
dren sing "All hail the power of Jesus' Name" with all the 
enthusiasm we sing it at home — the same inspiring old 
tune, only the words I could not understand, as they were 
in Chinese. The most remarkable thing I heard during 
the afternoon was a chorus of about twent3^-five or thirty 
girls, ranging in age from twelve to eighteen years, sing 
the "Hallelujah Chorus" from the ' ' Messiah, " and they did 
it well. After the program was completed Santa Claus 
came in, the Christmas tree was lighted up, and each 
child received a present. 



CHAPTER III 

SoocHOw — Some Scenes on the Way and in Our Home 

You see we are at last in our home in Soochow. 
After a busy morning, we left Shanghai at four o'clock 
Tuesday afternoon. Since I left you two months ago I 
have traveled in many different kinds of conveyances — 
first the Pullman palace car, then steamship. In Yoko- 
hama I had my first jinrickshaw ride ; from Yokohama to 
Tokio in a Japanese railway train; in China I rode in a 
Chinese railway train. I have been on many tugs and 
launches, and now we have come from Shanghai to 
Soochow in a houseboat. Every day three launches 
leave Shanghai for Soochow, and they tow the house- 
boats up Soochow Creek. There were two Chinese 
houseboats in front of us; then came our houseboat, then 
behind us another Chinese boat, all towed by the launch, 
making five boats, one right behind the other. Our boat 
was very nice. The cabin was about eight by twelve 
feet — a nice stove in it to keep us warm; back of this 
was the kitchen and place for the cabin-boy to sleep. 
This Chinese boy prepared our meals and waited on us 
generally. There was a lavatory and a passage leading 
out to the deck. Altogether, we could not have been 
more comfortably fixed for the trip. 

If I should try with all my might I could not give you 
an adequate description of the things we saw. Lands- 



8 CHINA AND JAPAN 

men have no clear conception of what these houseboats 
are hke. Seated in the warm cabin, we looked out of 
two windows at the scenes as we were waiting for the 
start. All around us was busy, noisy Chinese boat-life. 
Then on one side, crowded close up to us, grazing the 
very side of our boat, was a great awkward barge loaded 
with Chinese tables and chairs and furniture of all 
descriptions, belonging to some Chinese official who was 
coming up the canal at the same time we were. The 
loading of all this furniture on the official's boat delayed 
us an hour. Finally, just as the darkness came down 
and obscured most of the scene, we felt ourselves moving 
slowly and smoothly along. We passed, along the way, 
Chinese houseboats. Here, hurrying by — not hurrying in 
our Western sense, but in a Chinese way — was a boat 
loaded heavily with great bulky bales of Chinese cotton ; 
then a boat filled with bags of salt; here comes a "compo" 
boat with all its family aboard. Half of this boat is 
covered over with bamboo mats. Under these mats we 
catch glimpses of men, women, and children sitting on 
their heels, busy at their supper. Over in one corner of 
this boat we can see a pile of mud and bricks built up so 
as to support an iron pan — a hole in one side of the pile 
shows us the remaining cold ashes of a grass and leaf 
fire. The rice had been cooked by this quick, hot flame. 
Shouts and calls of every kind added to the general con- 
fusion, but as we moved along, after an hour or so we 
had left the city, with its thousand moving lights (jinrick- 
shaw lanterns) and its confusion of sounds and smells 




Coaling at Nagasaki. Nagasaki Harbor. 



CHINA AND JAPAN p 

and sights. The boy we had brought along came quietly 
into the cabin, now lighted brightly and comfortable and 
warm, spread the table, and we soon had a delightful 
warm supper, after which the table was folded up and 
drawn aside, and we sat and talked and enjoyed the 
novelty of the Chinese houseboat. 

The city wall around Soochow was an interesting 
sight. The customs station was reached at nine o'clock 
Wednesday morning. Our boat was cut loose from the 
launch and rowed on up into the city to our landing. 
The welcome we received from our fellow-workers was 
most cordial and glad, but to me no greetings have been 
more touching than have been those of the medical 
students and the servants. The orderlies in the hospital, 
the internes and stewards, all were standing at the 
hospital entrance as we came up, and their greetings, 
polite language, and happy faces, smiling and beaming, 
were peculiarly impressive. These people are of con- 
stant interest to me. I have only been in Soochow two 
days, but have had five calls from the Chinese ladies. 
First to call were the wife and daughter of the chaplain 
of the hospital. The daughter was educated at our 
McTyeier School in Shanghai, and can speak English. I 
am going to study Chinese with her — will begin Monday. 

While I am writing Doctor Trawick is studying his 
Chinese lesson. I do not suppose any language was ever 
studied like this. Think of having a teacher who does 
not speak a word of English — with no grammar to help 
you. Their books are most of them printed on thin 



lo CHINA AND JAPAN 

paper. They read from top to bottom, and begin at the 
back of the book and read toward the left. They have 
no sounds that are like English, and their efforts at 
English are very funny. They can not twist their tongues 
around our sounds any more than we can around theirs. 
Their "pidgin English" is too funny. At home we read 
jokes about it sometimes, but to actually hear it talked in 
all seriousness is to me one of the funniest things to which 
I ever listened. "Pidgin English" is never used in polite 
society, but in the business world and with servants. I 
might fill up my letter telling you of this queer language, 
which I have not yet learned but intend to before I come 
home. I am sure ' ' pidgin English " will be far more inter- 
esting to my friends there than all the Chinese I might 
talk. Another thing about them which has impressed me 
is their mode of dress. For example. Doctor Trawick's 
teacher, who is sitting here in the library while I write, 
teaching the doctor his lessons, is dressed thus : He has 
on a pair of trousers of dark blue, made like bloomers some- 
what, a band closing just above the ankle ; below that is an 
expanse of white sock, made of domestic ; on his feet are 
black cloth slippers, no heels ; over this, from his chin to 
his heels, is a garment or coat of military blue. There are 
no seams on the shoulders — all of one piece, with seams 
under the arms running down the sides. T his is cut open 
in front and buttoned with cords and buttons, then it is 
split up each side and buttoned or not, as the wearer 
prefers. This coat is lined with white sheepswool, 
making it very warm. Around his waist is a plum-colored 



CHINA AND JAPAN ii 

silk sash about two inches wide and tied in the back in a 
hard knot. On his head is a black satin cap, somewhat 
like a polo cap. In the middle of this is a red silk knot 
about as large as a walnut ; this is made of red silk cord 
twisted in a queer way to make it into a knot or button. 
They never remove the cap in the house. When they 
get cold, instead of going to the fire they put on another 
coat, for in their houses they have no fires. Sometimes 
on very cold days you see a man with so many coats on 
that he looks deformed. These coats are all cut as the 
one I described, and of course have no lit at all. The 
queue is plaited down the back, and about half way down 
they begin to plait in a black silk cord; then after the hair 
ends the cord goes on to the bottom of the garment — 
about six inches from the ground; at the end of the cord 
is a silk tassel, which is to represent hair. When they 
are in mourning they plait white instead of black cord 
into the hair, and put a white knot on the cap. Some of 
them have very heavy queues, and are very proud of them. 
Doctor Trawick's teacher is very intelligent, and has 
nice, polite manners. Some of the medical students are 
particularly intelligent looking. These men do not look 
anything like the laundrymen you see at home. 



CHAPTER IV 

A Walk Through the Streets of Soochow, and 
A Visit to the Foreign Concession 

A walk through the streets of a real Chinese city is a 
novel and interesting experience. Sometimes this is not 
altogether a pleasant walk, for the "sights" and "smells" 
in the " Chinatown " of real China are something fear- 
ful. Saturday was the day of the funeral of Queen Vic- 
toria, and you know the English people all over the world 
assembled somewhere, in some house, to hear the burial 
service read for the dead Queen, 

Outside of the city wall of Soochow there are the 
British concessions, and several English people live there. 
We know them all, and were invited to join in this ser- 
vice to do honor to England's much-loved Queen. After 
a week of rain and clouds the sun came out, and the day 
was beautiful, but very cold. About seven minutes' walk 
brought us outside the " foreign settlement," where we 
live. Remember, in referring to foreigners I mean those 
not Chinese. We then found ourselves in a narrow, 
dark, Chinese street. These streets are about four feet 
wide, the buildings forming a wall on each side, making 
them dark and dismal. The sun never shines into many 
of these Chinese streets. They are filled with beggars 
and the lower classes of Chinese. It is not hard to 
imagine what a rabble there would be in such a city of 



CHINA AND JAPAN 13 

half a million. These real Chinese streets are very re- 
pulsive to me, and I should never venture into one alone. 

A foreigner creates a great sensation when seen walk- 
ing through these streets. A lady is especially comment- 
ed on. The day I speak of, the rabble followed us, com- 
menting on our clothes, our appearance, etc. Before we 
got outside the wall as many as twenty ragged, dirty 
men, women, and children were following us. They 
would run ahead, then stop, turn around and stare at us. 
It was very amusing to me, although embarrassing and an- 
noying, but I do not blame them, for if a man and a wo- 
man of the upper-class Chinese, dressed in their native 
costume, made of handsome satins embroidered elabo- 
rately, should walk through Fourth Street some beauti- 
ful afternoon they would create a sensation and be fol- 
lowed by a crowd of small boys. This being the case 
in a civilized Christian city, what more can we expect of 
the "heathen Chinee".^ We did not have this crowd 
following us all the way, however, for we soon passed 
through the gate and were outside the city wall. 

Here it is not so thickly inhabited, and most of the peo- 
ple we saw seemed to be going in an opposite direction. 
Our way now for about a mile was on a nicely paved 
walk, running parallel with the canal. The country is 
full of canals, travel in China being done almost exclu- 
sively by water. All along this canal we saw " huddled" 
together a hundred or two boats, where people are born, 



14 CHINA AND JAPAN 

live and die, knowing no other homes. On the banks 
are huts made of straw, and they are full of these poor 
creatures. The canal boats are about the size of a small 
barge, are covered with a straw matting, and look like 
gypsy wagons. They never have fires for heating pur- 
poses, only enough in an earthen crock to cook rice. 

On the opposite side of this canal, rising to a height 
of about thirty feet, is the wall of the city of Soochow. 
No one has any record of when it was built. Soon we 
were in the British concessions, where we could hardly 
see a suggestion of Chinese life. The houses here are 
built after foreign plans, and are as beautiful, comfort- 
able, and homelike as any one could wish. On reach- 
ing the elegant home of the Commissioner of Customs 
we found the parlor well filled with people assembled to 
pay their respects to the dead Queen. The burial service 
of the Church of England was read. 

Our return trip was made by boat. These boats are 
very queer, like so many other things in China. This 
one was about fifteen feet long, with a cabin in the center 
six feet by five. A seat ran around two sides; at one 
end was a tiny table, a chair, and an oil stove. The way 
these boats are propelled is the queerest thing about 
them. There is a large oar in the middle of the stern, 
just over the rudder. This oar has a curved handle. It 
is held in place by a hole into which is slipped a large pin. 
The Chinaman stands and works the oar, giving it the 
motion exactly of a fish's tail. The larger boats have 



CHINA AND JAPAN 15 

two oars, which do not appear to work at all in unison. 
One may imagine with what rapidity these boats move; 
but, as some one has said, ' ' Never get in a hurry in China, 
for the natives do not know the meaning of the word." 
A Chinaman never hurries under any circumstances, and 
we soon fall into their ways. 

After landing, a four-minutes' walk brought us to our 
own gate, and soon into our cozy library, where a bright 
fire burned for us. 



CHAPTER V 

A Chinese Feast of Twenty-three Courses 

I must tell you of a real Chinese dinner I attended. 
The city is divided into districts under officials who pro- 
tect the foreigners (as we are called). The official of our 
district invited us to a "Chinese feast." There were 
nine foreigners and three Chinese at the table — the offi- 
cial, his private secretary, and one other Chinaman, who 
spoke a little English. This was my first experience with 
Chinese food, and you should have seen me trying to 
manipulate the "chop-sticks." There was not a knife 
or fork on the table. At each place was a little green 
plate much smaller than an ordinar)^ saucer, with a green 
china spoon in it. This spoon was about the size of a 
soup spoon. First of all was brought in a bowl of tea. 
These bowls were about the size of an ordinary oatmeal 
bowl, perhaps a little smaller. A smaller bowl covers 
this to keep the tea hot. The tea leaves were in each 
bowl, and we poured boiling water over them ; no sugar 
or cream. You must drink it just so out of the bowl, 
and the Chinese can drink it almost boiling. 

At each place was a small plate, divided in the middle 
by a raised place in the metal. On one side of this 
plate were watermelon seeds, on the other the kernels 
of fir cones. These were eaten between the courses, 



CHINA AND JAPAN 17 

as we eat salted almonds — just eat them while you wait. 
Next came a peculiar jelly, cut in small blocks like 
caramels. This was made from the red haw, which is 
used here a great deal instead of cranberries, and very 
delightful it is, too. The different dishes are brought 
on the table one, or perhaps two at a time, and placed 
in the center. Then each one is expected to reach over 
and with his chop-sticks or spoon help himself, putting 
it on his little green plate, then eating from that. If you 
should happen to get a piece of meat which is too large 
for one mouthful you just hold it with your chop-sticks 
and "bite it off." Certainly what the Chinese consider 
very correct would not be tolerated at our tables. 

The chairs are never drawn close to the table, for 
were they drawn too near it would not be convenient to 
rise and make the polite bow of thanks that one has so 
frequently to do during the course of a feast. After the 
tea bowls were removed came roast duck. Notice they 
have neither bread nor water. The Chinese in this sec- 
tion of the Empire do not eat bread. Then came sugar- 
cane. I can not tell you how their meats were prepared — 
all in some queer way. Next we had clams in the shell, 
then shark's fins, lichen soup, roast goose, pigeon-egg 
soup, spinal cord, ham and bamboo, rice-flour cake, and 
almond soup ; pickled tsay, shrimps, and red pepper ; 
stewed shrimps with ham (you see, ham was a favorite 
dish), soup of fish stomachs, stewed mutton, and bamboo 
shoots. Bamboo shoots are used a great deal, prepared 



i8 CHINA AND JAPAN 

in many different ways. Then came a very queer dish, 
some kind of "fowl" — goose, I think it was. This was 
served us ; then, in the middle of the table, was a plate of 
peculiar looking little bags made of dough. You were 
expected to take one of these bags, then a piece of the 
goose cut in blocks about two inches square, and with 
your chop-sticks dip the meat in a plate of sauce, which is 
also in the middle of the table, then place it in the little 
dough bag, which you hold in your left hand, and wrap it 
up in this bag and bite it off. 

Next we had another kind of soup. Then a stew made 
of scrambled eggs and grated ham ; stewed oranges ; soup 
again, bamboo, and tsay ; ham soup with fish-balls in it ; 
more bamboo. Every time things were prepared differ- 
ently. Then came chicken soup, and last of all the 
bowl of rice cooked with eggs, which was delightful, but 
very difficult to eat, as the proper way is to put the bowl 
right up to the mouth like you would a cup, and then 
shove the rice into your mouth with the chop-sticks. 
Then came another bowl of tea, entirely different from 
the first. On the table were several plates of peculiar 
candy and candied fruits of various kinds. There were 
twenty-three courses. The only reason one lives through 
a Chinese feast is that you are only expected to taste a 
little of each course except the rice, the very last course, 
as we would serve after-dinner coffee. To be strictly 
correct and polite you must eat all of that, not leaving 
one grain in the bowl. 



CHAPTER VI 

A Visit to the Quaint Shops of China 

This bright and beautiful Sunday morning, while 
Doctor Trawick has gone out to see a patient before 
church time, I have decided to write you. This is the 3d 
of March. The weather is glorious ; the air has just a 
touch of spring. In a little while we will go to a Chinese 
church. Doctor Trawick will sit on one side of the 
church with the men, and I will have to be on the other 
side with the women. The Chinese men and women 
never sit together in church. We will all sing Chinese 
hymns out of Chinese hymn books, only I'll not sing. 
Then we will kneel while some one offers up a prayer in 
Chinese. Then another song, after which will come the 
sermon, not one word of which I will understand, as it is 
all in Chinese. I have not yet learned the language, 
consequently I do not go very often. 

A few days ago we had quite an interesting experi- 
ence. We went shopping. Now this is something 
foreigners rarely do in China. We get some of our 
Chinese friends to do it for us ; but this time we decided 
to do it ourselves, as we wanted to buy some silk and a 
silver spoon. There were four of us in the party, Doctor 
Trawick, myself, and two other ladies, then we had our 
Chinese tailor accompany us to show us the way, as all 



20 CHINA AND JAPAN 

shops look alike to the uninitiated. By the way, this 
lady's tailor is a generally convenient person. He speaks 
"pidgin English" real well. Then he can do most any- 
thing that we want done. He upholstered our box 
couch for us beautifully, does any mending we want done, 
and can copy any garment we want made, all for the most 
reasonable price. 

But to continue with our shopping. After walking 
through narrow streets, from four to ten feet wide, over 
old stone bridges that were built no one knows when, we 
reached the " Qur Zee." This is the name of the principal 
business street in Soochow. It is about five feet wide, 
the shops built right on the street. Of course the sun 
never shines in these narrow "streets," hence they are 
always damp and slippery, the stones being worn smooth 
from long use. 

There are, comparatively speaking, few foreigners 
in this city of 500,000 inhabitants, so we are all known to 
the natives. 

Finally we reached the silk shop. We were ushered 
back through many rooms and passages into a smaller 
room still, where they would show us the silk. In this 
room we found candles and incense burning to their 
ancestors. You know their religion is mostly ancestor- 
worship. The candles and incense, however, were 
quickly removed to make room to show us the silks on 
this table. 

My, how you would have reveled in those beautiful 
silks ! I can not describe them to you, for they are different 



CHINA AND JAPAN 21 

from any I ever saw before. These have no stripes 
or checks, nor figures of different colors, but the flowers 
are woven in of the same color as the body of the silk. 
We selected a pattern we liked, and bought three yards 
of thirty-one inch wide silk for $1.87 in gold. After this 
we went to the silversmith's, or jeweler's. Then I thought 
how you would have enjoyed this. The room, which was 
of medium size, was dingy and dark, with not one thing 
in sight to suggest what their business was. We wanted 
to have a Chinese silver spoon made for a wedding pres- 
ent. After giving the order, we asked if we could not go 
up into the shop and see the men at work. You can 
have no conception of these Chinese houses until you see 
them. They are rarely over one story high, but spread 
over acres of ground. We were taken through dark 
passages, then up a few steps into the workshop, which 
was about eighteen by twenty-four feet. There the men 
were busy making rings, bracelets, gold hairpins, silver 
spoons, etc. It was wonderful to see the amount of carv- 
ing they put on these things with such primitive tools. 

After seeing them at work we came on down, and 
the son of the proprietor led us through many more 
rooms and dark passageways, finally into a small recep- 
tion room ; then, inviting us to be seated and asking to be 
excused a moment, he went out to call his mother. She 
came hobbling in on her tiny feet. Her hair was elabo- 
rately decorated with pearl ornaments. The Chinese 
women all dress their hair exactly alike, so the only 
originality they can display is in the ornaments used, and 



22 CHINA AND JAPAN 

these vary more according to the wealth of the wearer 
than anything else. The pearls in the woman's hair 
must have cost thousands of dollars. She was delighted 
to see us, went out and ordered tea for us, with the 
accompanying confectionery, candy and nuts. She was 
most cordial to us ; brought in her baby grandson for us 
to see and admire, and promised to return our call. She 
was much amused at my little fur hat, which had the 
head, tail, and claws of a mink on it. 

We at last "tore" ourselves away, reaching home 
in time for dinner. 



CHAPTER VII 

Some Interesting Scenes in Soochow — Farmers, 
Water Wheel, etc. 

Recently we had an interesting walk. We could see 
from our window some people, men, women, and children, 
working in a field just across the canal, so we decided to 
walk over and see what they were doing. We found 
them standing knee-deep in the blackest mud, working 
with their arms in this same mud as high as their elbows. 
We stopped to see what they were doing — they returned 
the compliment by ceasing to work and staring at us. 
We asked them what they were doing, and they replied, 
"Looking for beh zee. " This is a kind of water chestnut, 
looks something like a buckeye, and grows in the rich 
black mud. They search for it with both hands and feet. 
It is "mud pies" on a gigantic scale. After they find a big 
basketful they wash them, there and then, in the canal. 
They are cooked in many different ways and eaten as 
vegetables, and are very nice. We foreigners eat and enjoy 
them very much. There are about half a dozen vege- 
tables that we have here and like that are not known in 
America. 

We watched these people for a long time, for it was 
a novel scene to us. We then walked on over toward 
the Ink pagoda, which is not far away. This is a gigantic, 
square pagoda, painted black, hence its name. Speaking 



24- CHINA AND JAPAN 

of pagodas, from our library window we can see four. 
One of these is the highest in the world. The oldest in 
the world is also here in Soochow. But to return to our 
walk, we saw in the distance a water buffalo working a 
water wheel, and as we were out to see what we could see 
we went over to investigate this primitive way of irri- 
gating. They have a wooden wheel, to which the buffalo 
is fastened. He is blindfolded to prevent his getting 
dizzy, then made to walk "round and round," thus revolv- 
ing the wheel. This forces the water up into a trough 
by means of wooden paddles. Thence it is turned into a 
ditch, where it is carried on down and floods the fields. 
This apparatus is probably all made by the owner himself. 
The whole thing being made of wood, it can be lifted on 
a man's shoulder and moved to any place he may desire. 
It is hard in a letter to make you understand the simplic- 
ity of the Chinese. They are like a race of children, as 
I have said before. All of their implements are as simple 
as those used a thousand years ago. After watching this 
for a little while we walked on to the wall which surrounds 
the pagoda. We stopped to look at it, and in five minutes 
were surrounded by twenty Chinese boys and girls in their 
" teens." Doctor Trawick talked to them, and they were 
much amused at him. One of the girls called attention 
to my hat (the Chinese ladies never wear hats anything 
like ours), and asked me to take it off for them to see, 
which I did not do. Of course I could not understand 
much they said, but the doctor had lots of fun with them, 
and they were as pleased as he was. One boy was flying 



CHINA AND JAPAN 25 

a kite — the Chinese are great people for that. Men 
and boys go out flying kites all day sometimes. Doctor 
Trawick took the string to see how the kite pulled, 
and they thought the ' ' foreign doctor '' was ' * lots of fun. " 
When we left them they insisted we should come ' ' another 
day and have a good time." The crowd started to follow 
us, so Doctor Trawick told them to go back. Immedi- 
ately one small boy replied: "We have to go to that 
bridge down there — we live there." They had come to us 
from the opposite direction, but like our own American boy 
he was ready with his excuse as soon as one was neces- 
sary. As we came back, one of the men who had been 
looking for "beh zee" came toward us and gave us some, 
which he had washed clean for us. So you see the 
Chinese are very friendly with the foreigners in Soochow. 



CHAPTER VIII 

A Glimpse into a Buddhist Temple — The Idols and 
THE Priests 

Recently we went with a few friends sight-seeing. 
Our first stop was at a Buddhist temple. This is a tre- 
mendous, square Chinese building. You have seen pic- 
tures of them many times, but no artist can give you a 
true conception of the real temple. This building has an 
immense court surrounding it, where they have all kinds 
of shows that you can see by paying a few cash. This 
court was crowded — it always is — with idle Chinese loaf- 
ing around. On going into the temple we found it dark 
and gloomy. It is not restful and attractive like our 
churches, but is cold, dirty, and repulsive. As we entered, 
the first sight to meet our eyes was three immense 
Buddhas, hideous things about twenty-five feet high. 
There they sat grinning or glowering at us, according to 
the manufacturer's idea. Going up some dark, steep 
stone steps to the second floor, we saw arranged around 
the walls many more gods. These are a little larger 
than an ordinary man, made of wood, veneered with gold. 
There are thirty-six of these, and each one is supposed 
to have his own special duty. On the third floor were 
many more, and these were still larger, but all seem to 
have been made by the same pattern. These last were 
especially sacred or important, for some were in closed 



CHINA AND JAPAN 27 

cases, and no one is allowed to see them. Others have 
their faces covered to keep the vulgar public from behold- 
ing their countenances. One of our medical students 
told me there were a thousand gods in this temple, some 
not as large as your hand. Think of intelligent people 
believing in the power of these awful looking things to 
grant their requests. These gods they know are made 
by man, and how can they worship such ? The Chinese 
are intelligent people. They have proved this thousands 
of years ago. 

The Buddhist priests are disgusting looking men. 
They often come to the hospital for treatment. They 
have their heads shaved entirely. One can usually 
see a double row of six, nine, or twelve round scars 
extending from the line of the hair on the brow back to 
the crown of the head. These scars are the remains of 
sores burned there with red-hot iron. The spots, about 
half an inch in diameter, after healing are white, perfectly 
bald, and show up plainly. They are intended to denote 
the entire separation of the priest from all worldly affairs 
and his devotion to the priesthood, and the number of 
scars in some way denotes the rank or advancement of 
the priest. The clothes they wear are Chinese, yet not 
like the regulation costume. They are made of a yellow- 
ish, dirty gray cloth, hang from the shoulders in a loose, 
long robe, sleeves tremendous and baggy, extending down 
over the hands. They are a miserable, villainous-looking 
lot, as we see them on the street or even in the temples, 



28 CHINA AND JAPAN 

but most pathetic when they come to the " foreign doc- 
tor " with some fearful form of eye trouble, or, worse, 
skin trouble 

The Chinese are full of superstition, and though they 
are often cruel and indifferent to the sufferings of their 
fellow man, they are aroused when a man is about 
to die. Coming home from an evening spent with 
some friends not long since, we noticed a man and a 
boy on the street — near the entrance to a house — with 
a lighted candle looking carefully over the ground, 
under stones, and up on the walls of the house. The 
man even got up on a rock and looked long and search- 
ingly under the tiles on the roof. He was looking for an 
insect — anything with life — there was some one in his 
house dying, or perhaps dead. The idea was to catch 
some live bug or an insect of any kind, then call loud and 
long for the spirit to come back. I have heard they 
believe that the insect may itself be the devil which has 
taken away the life. The Chinaman believes the devil 
to be the enemy of mankind, who is always getting the 
wind and the water out of their natural courses in order 
to perplex good Chinese and snatch away their spirits. 



CHAPTER IX 

A Slow-Boat Trip from Soochow to Sung Kong 

Traveling in China is different from anything I have 
ever seen. There being no launch line from Soochow to 
Sung Kong, we went by "slow boat." That is the 
correct name, sure. By "slow boat" one means either 
rowed, towed, or sailed. The wind being unfavorable, 
we had to be towed by two men all the way, and you can 
imagine how rapid was our transit. The sun was shining 
most beautifully when we left Soochow — three boatmen, 
a small boy, our own table boy. Doctor Trawick, and 
myself. Think of that ! I was the only woman on board 
with six men, and five of them Chinamen. We furnished 
everything, even our chairs. Our room was six by 
eight feet. We had our own "poo-kay" laid on a 
bench which was at one end of the room, with our 
dressing table, three feet square, and two chairs — 
you can imagine how much room we had in which 
to move around. Doctor Trawick would have to go 
out on deck while I made my toilet, for two people could 
never make their toilets in this room at the same time. 
Everybody must own a " poo-kay " and a Chinese lunch 
basket. A "poo-kay" is nothing more than a cotton 
mattress made in a convenient form to be carried on 
such boat trips. Soon after getting outside of the 
city gate we had tiffin. We lighted our oil stove, 



JO CHINA AND JAPAN 

made some tea, heated our baked chicken, had nice 
hght-bread, butter, jam, and pie. After this elabo- 
rate "tiffin" we went out on deck, which measured 
three by fourj feet, so the boy could wash the dishes. 
All afternoon we were being towed slowly along, over 
nice broad canals, between fields of green and gold. 
The Chinese raise a vegetable that has a yellow 
flower, somewhat like our mustard, and whole fields 
of this with the green leaves are beautiful. All along 
on both sides of^the canal we could see one or more 
graves. There seems to be no "law or order" about 
these graves, but there is. Every grave must be in a 
certain position or "bad luck" will come to the living. 
We reached the walled city of Quinsan just about dark, 
so here we tied up for the night. In a few minutes we 
heard our boatman call out (in Chinese) to some one that 
he had foreigners on board. This was the very thing we 
did not want him to do, as there is not a foreigner in 
Quinsan ; we thought it safest not to let it be known 
we were there. I was not one bit frightened, although 
we were away off alone just with Chinese. I slept as 
well as one could expect with my head jammed up 
against the planks at one end of the bed and my feet 
against them at the other. Doctor Trawick, knowing there 
was some danger, slept with an eye and ear open. We 
opened our window to let in some air, but the boatman 
told us to close it. Later we learned from a friend 
that one night they were on a boat, and she was aroused 
from sleep by the cover slipping off ; she pulled it back, 



CHINA AND JAPAN 31 

but it slipped off again. Then she discovered a man had 
waded out into the water and had his arm in the window 
and had taken a small silk shawl, and now was actually 
pulling the cover off their bed. It is not pleasant to have 
one's clothes and bedding stolen, so we will keep our 
windows closed in the future. No such trouble came to 
us, and at daylight we pulled out, hoping to reach Sung 
Kong by noon. We, however, had reckoned without our 
boatmen. Slow ! Well, I should say so. Slower, even, 
than the average Chinese. Noon rapidly approached, but 
we seemed to make little or no progress. Doctor Trawick 
got out on deck and played captain a while, and we 
moved along a little faster. After "tiffin" I persuaded 
him to put on his long dressing-gown and take a nap, as 
he slept so little the night before. In a little while we 
came to a place where the tow-path was interrupted by a 
small canal, across which there was no bridge. We had 
to go to shore and let our two men who were towing us 
get on board. They jumped on, and as they did so I 
heard an awful crash. Then the doctor called out in 
English, " What in the world is the matter.^ " I opened 
his door, and a very funny sight met my eyes. There 
he sat on the side of his bed, his eyes showing he had 
been asleep, and our nice lunch-basket turned upside 
down on the floor. The jar to the boat caused by the 
men jumping on had done it. There we had oatmeal 
over everything, dishes broken, jam and sugar scattered 
around. Well, altogether, it was something of a mess. 
However, Doctor Trawick looked so funny that I had to 



32 CHINA AND JAPAN 

laugh instead of being angry at the boatmen. I man- 
aged to get things in order once more, and he finished 
his nap without further interruption. 

About five o'clock, as the sun was going down, we turned 
off the big canal into a very narrow one, which also 
proved to be very shallow. Then we saw still another 
way to propel the boat. Sometimes the canals are so 
shallow that the bottom of the boat scrapes the mud so 
that the boatmen can not row. Neither can they tow, so 
then they take long bamboo poles with short hooks in the 
end, and a man stands on each side of the front of the 
boat and by sticking these hooks into the bed of the canal 
and pulling with all their might they slide the boat along. 
Then they put the poles down a few feet farther and 
repeat this motion . You can imagine what rapid progress 
we were making at this rate. In a little while a boat just 
the size of ours came up behind us, being "poled " just as 
ours was. They overtook us and got exactly even with 
us, our sides touching each other. The canal was so 
narrow they could not pass any other way. No other 
boats in the world could stand this rough treatment, 
bumping into and being bumped, without being turned 
over or injured. But these boats stand it, and are not 
hurt. All of this time our boatmen were determined not 
to be passed, so there the poor men, two on each boat, 
were "poling" with all their strength for about fifteen 
minutes ; then we commenced to gain and finally passed 
them. Everybody we would meet we would ask " How 
far to Sung Kong.? " and we would get most any reply as 



CHINA AND JAPAN 33 

to distance. Finally we saw a foreign house in the dis- 
tance, and thought it must be Mr. Reed's. I said to Doctor 
Trawick : ' ' Why don't you ask that Chinaman stand- 
ing on the bank so kindly holding a lantern for us ? " He 
replied : "I have called him and asked him, and the 
boatmen have done the same several times, but have 
never gotten one sound from him." Strange to say, that 
man held the light for us to see to come ashore, then 
lighted our way to Mr. Reed's, but never spoke one word. 
This is another peculiarity of the people. Sometimes 
they will refuse to reply to a question, and there is no 
dragging an answer from them. It was now half-past 
eight o'clock Tuesday night, and we had been since eleven 
o'clock Monday traveling seventy-five miles. Go to China 
for rapid transit. 



CHAPTER X 

A Visit to a Native Flower Garden and a ' ' Leaning 
Pagoda " near Soochow 

Recently with some friends we went by "rickshaw" 
and boat some five miles outside the city wall. 

Here I had my first view of a Chinese public garden, 
or park. We entered a big, dingy, barn-like building, 
where many men sat at tables and behind desks in a most 
business-like way, but none of them seemed busy. We 
paid our ten cents each, entrance fee, and were shown 
through a door, and were left to follow our own inclina- 
tions. We found ourselves in a narrow passage which 
turned only to lead into another. This continued for 
some distance. Finally we came to an open space ; I 
mean open overhead, but walls on the four sides. Here 
we saw gnarled old trees and pools of water filled with 
goldfish, rustic bridges spanning these pools from one to 
another. There were islands with huge stones worn by 
the sea, small tea or summer houses, and the most 
beautiful flowers. Of course this is a little early and the 
flowers were only beginning to bloom, but will be very 
beautiful later in the season. After winding around over 
rustic bridges and still more rustic and romantic stone 
walks we came to an exit in the form of another long, 
narrow passage. We entered, and in a few moments 
found ourselves in another court similar to, yet quite 



CHINA AND JAPAN 35 

different from the first. The garden is composed of 
many — I have no idea how many — of these courts. In 
some we found caged animals ; in one was an ancient 
Chinese Hbrary. The books were all in glass cases, a 
separate case for each book; beautifully carved chairs 
and tables, etc. 

Finally we selected one of the tea houses and began to 
spread our lunch, and you may be sure it was not long 
before we had a large and interested audience. The 
Chinese have great curiosity, and always are interested in 
a foreigner, so we had to let them stare. After "tiffin," 
the table boys we had brought with us packed up our 
lunch-baskets and we all went to our boat. 

After a five-mile ride, which took one hour and a half, 
we found ourselves at the "Tiger Hill Pagoda." This is 
said to be one thousand years old. It is on the summit of 
a mountain or very high hill, and is leaning like the Tower 
of Pisa. We estimated that it is leaning at least twelve 
or fifteen feet out of the perpendicular. It is so old and 
dilapidated that the entrances on the ground floor have 
been closed up to keep one from going in, as it is danger- 
ous. It is six stories high, and the dust has collected for 
so many ages on the ledges that now there is earth enough 
for grass and weeds to grow. You can never imagine how 
picturesque this old pile is with the green growing here 
and there from top to bottom. At the base, about fifty 
or a hundred feet away, is a temple. Here we saw the 
combination of images called the "Goddess of Mercy." 
She is really four gods, for there are four idols just alike, 



36 CHINA AND JAPAN 

placed with their backs to each other, forming a square. 
Each image has two hundred and fifty hands, one pair 
of hands clasped in an attitude of supplication, another 
pair hanging clasped loosely down in front. The third 
pair is above the head. The rest are much smaller, 
and are all extending from the shoulder, making a fan-like 
effect. In each hand is held a gift. These statues are 
about ten feet high, I suppose. Of course, the incense 
and red lights are kept constantly burning. Here also we 
saw an immense old gong, which is rung by a piece of 
banana wood swung from a rope. 

After enjoying the fine view of the city and surround- 
ing country from the mountain we started down the broad 
stone walk which leads down the hill from the temple 
to the canal. The report had gone abroad that foreign- 
ers were visiting the garden, and as we came down we 
counted fifteen beggars, stationed at regular intervals 
along the walk, waiting for us, each one ready with his 
little bowl or cup for the "cash." 

We had tea on our boat, and reached home at seven 
o'clock ; found big mail from home, which made a nice 
ending to a most happy day. 



CHAPTER XI 

Some Interesting Sights Along the Canals 

Along the banks of the canal at various intervals we 
see "water wheels," a strange contrivance for irrigating 
the "paddy fields," as the rice fields are called. Reach- 
ing from the water up the bank of the canal to the level 
of the field is a sort of wooden trough, in which runs an 
endless chain made of wood. The links of this chain are 
made so as to catch the water and draw it up as the 
chain revolves around a wheel at the upper part of the 
trough. This wheel is turned by a larger one, to which 
is harnessed a cow or water buffalo. The poor beast has 
her nose drawn down close to the wheel, and around and 
around this she walks, her eyes covered with bamboo 
shields, or frequently the shells of the tortoise or mud 
terrapin. This is to keep her from growing dizzy from 
the going "round and round." A small Chinese child 
stands close by, ready to whip the buffalo at the slightest 
relaxation of its efforts. 

Occasionally, as we turn in some of the many wind- 
ings of the canal, we brush up against the reeds which 
grow away out into the water. These reeds are very use- 
ful articles to the natives. Their long, waving blades 
make mats and ropes, and the reed stalks themselves are 
made into blinds — sorhe of the very kind of blinds we 



38 CHINA AND JAPAN 

have in our own house in Louisville. They serve splen- 
didly to keep out the glare of these summer days. 

While I am writing we are moving along slowly 
toward Sung Kong. Out of the window of our boat I 
see a mountain a few miles from Sung Kong, on the top 
of which we can easily see the round dome of an observa- 
tory and a large, well-built Catholic school. This observa- 
tory is perhaps the best equipped in the East, and is on 
an admirable spot for observations. Many hours out 
from the city this mountain can be seen, and we wind 
around and about through the low-lying country, follow- 
ing the uncertain course of the canal, never out of sight 
of the observatory and the patient, silent mountain 
foundation. On another mountain some distance from this 
observatory we see a Chinese temple. The mountain is 
perfectly bare of trees except at the very top — there is 
a clump, and we see clearly the walls and curved roof of 
the temple. Our boat has stopped. The tow-path seems 
to have come to an end. As we lie alongside the bank 
the tall reeds bend and shake in the wind, rattle against 
our boat, their tall tips bending into our window. The 
men who are towing us will come on board, when we 
will row on down till we come to the tow-path again. 

This time a rather amusing thing happened. The 
tow-path was broken by a canal running into the main 
canal down which we are going. Our men came to the 
bank of this little canal, stopped — called back to us they 
could tow no farther. Our man on the boat reached out 



CHINA AND JAPAN jg 

and grasped some of the long reeds growing close up to 
him, held the boat against the stiff wind while the tow- 
men made use of a small boat, just passing by, rowed 
by a smaller boy. Our men literally confiscated this 
little boat, and made the small boy ferry them across the 
canal to where the tow-path began again. It was all 
done so quickly that the small boy and his boat are 
still looking back at us surprised as we ripple along 
merrily enough — considering. What about the weather .-' 
Why, it is delightful. We could not have had a more 
pleasant day so far as actual temperature is concerned. 
The wind that bears so strong against us blows away all 
the hot odors that would otherwise be most objectionable, 
keeps us cool, and makes us want to sleep away the time. 
The wind rattling the reeds outside blows into the boat, 
fanning the window curtains, making them stand straight 
out from the side of the boat sometimes it is so strong. 



CHAPTER XII 

Rice Planting 

This seems to be the season for planting rice, and we 
have seen the process of planting in all its stages. We 
have just passed a little village which affords some very 
interesting sights. Before coming through the village 
I noticed the farmers at work in their fields. These 
"paddy fields" are made perfectly level, with mud parti- 
tions dividing them up into small sections. The water 
wheel is brought, and water is drawn up into the field 
nearest the canal. This portion is flooded, then the 
water is turned by means of ingeniously constructed 
ditches into adjoining fields until the whole face of the 
country is under about three inches of water, with here 
and there a grave mound rising in neglected silence out 
of the mud. Even the piles of mud thrown up in rows 
to partition off the fields are utilized. The rice is first 
sown in a small place much like the old plant beds used 
in Kentucky for tobacco plants, only these rice beds are 
under water. The young rice plants resemble wheat 
very much in appearance at this stage. When the rice 
plants have grown about six inches high, women wade 
into the plant beds, pull up the little plants, tie them 
with a piece of dried grass or a blade of the reeds I have 
spoken of into little bundles, several hundred plants to 
the bundle. 



CHINA AND JAPAN 41 

The rice or paddy fields have been made ready. 
We can see them now all around here doing this part of 
the work. The ground is thoroughly plowed — all under 
water. A crude wooden plow is used; a water buffalo is 
harnessed, or rather tied to the plow with a queer 
arrangement of ropes — the plowman and buffalo sinking 
in the mud up to their knees as they turn up the earth. 
After this mud is thoroughly turned up or broken up the 
water is again turned in, and the whole put under several 
inches of water. With a long line — made, by the way, 
of this very same reed which grows in such profusion 
along the canals — rows are laid out, the rice plants have 
been distributed through the flooded paddy fields, and 
several farmers — men and women — wade in and set the 
little plants, one at a time, in rows about six inches 
apart. After the field is set it resembles very much a 
wheat field in old Kentucky sowed by a drill, only these 
fields are under water. As we came through the little 
village I saw women at work threshing wheat. Of all 
ancient, crude processes we have seen here, this perhaps 
"caps the climax." The wheat is cut a handful at a time 
by a sharp curved knife resembling very much the one we 
see in the Bible pictures of " Ruth gleaning. " The hand- 
fuls of wheat straw are gathered, carried to a clear place, 
and piled in sheaves. A plank is laid on the ground, 
one side elevated. Two women stand behind this plank, 
take as much wheat straw as they can hold in both hands, 
and beat the heads of wheat on the plank. The grains of 
wheat, with the hull and portions of the "beard,'' fly out 



42 CHINA AND JAPAN 

in a heap, and are kept from scattering by a pile of straw 
laid around in a crude circle. 

The threshing is done by tramping it out, then throw- 
ing the wheat up in the air and allowing the wind to blow 
the chaff away. These wheat "hulls," or chaff, are used 
for fuel — as the wheat straw is used both for fuel and for 
thatching roofs of houses and for making "waterproof" 
coats for the farmers. These "waterproof" coats are 
strange-looking things. I have seen men wearing them 
who looked more like an animated wheat sheaf than like 
a man. Fuel is needed only for cooking purposes, and 
rice must be cooked over a very hot fire, so this straw 
and chaff make the quick, hot blaze necessary. It is 
hard to realize there are people living in the beginning 
of the Twentieth Century doing work in the "old-time 
way," as do these slow, plodding Chinese. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Some Incidents of the Hospital Work 

No account of our life in Soochow will be complete 
without giving you a glimpse occasionally of the hospital 
work. It will of course not be possible to enter into any 
detailed account of the daily happenings there, nor to give 
you a complete history of all cases that come under 
observation, but I am sure you will find it interesting to 
read of some few incidents and cases selected from the 
doctor's diary. 

He has spoken often of the indifference of the Chinese 
to pain, and their heartlessness in the presence of suffering 
in other people. 

The students and internes occasionally have to be 
mildly rebuked for what seems to us rudeness, for their 
native instincts are hard to control, and to laugh at a sick 
man's suffering or make light of death as though it were 
an occasion for mirth are some of the outcroppings of 
these "native instincts." 

Recently the house surgeon of the hospital blandly 
smiled and then broke into mirthful laughter at the sight 
of a wife's grief for her husband, who had just died. 

The scenes of neglect and suffering are sometimes 
almost beyond belief, as the following incident may show. 
The doctor was called to see a boy who had taken opium 
with suicidal intent. On arriving at the place he found 



U CHINA AND JAPAN 

the street blocked with people, surrounding a stretcher 
borne by two men on which was the boy, about fifteen 
years of age. Over the patient was thrown a rough old 
cloth. The doctor was told the boy had already died; 
had taken the opium some time early in the day. This 
meant any time in the forenoon. Doctor Trawick asked 
to be allowed to see the boy; that it might be possible he 
was still alive. On throwing the covering back from the 
poor fellow's face he gasped several times and began to 
breathe irregularly. The doctor saw that his patient 
was truly in the very last stages of opium poisoning, but as 
he had on several occasions restored opium victims to 
life when they seemed as hopeless as this case, he said to 
the crowd that it was worth the effort. He said the 
street was not a convenient place to work, especially with 
the patient surrounded by such a crowd of lookers-on. 
To the doctor's horror one of the men of the family in 
which the boy was employed as a servant threw up his 
hands and in a loud voice cried, " No! unless you can say 
positively you can save his life he must be carried away 
from the house to die." 

Of course he could not guarantee to restore the boy 
to life, so the stretcher-bearers, with rough, heathenish 
laughs and coarse jests, moved of^ with the still living 
boy. The doctor found another member of the family 
standing in the door of his house, smiling complacently. 
He said the family only employed the boy as an under- 
ling; that for some little reason of the boy's own he had 
taken opium; that they had done their duty with the boy; 



CHINA AND JAPAN 4.5 

in other words, "gotten virtue" so far as men's opinions go 
by calling two Chinese physicians (?) and one foreign 
doctor, so what more could the boy expect ? The object 
of the haste to get the body out of the house was simply 
that the boy should not die there and have his spirit 
haunting them continually. The boy was presumably to 
be carried to his own home, but we 'doubt very much 
if the stretcher-bearers ever reached his home. He 
could very easily be dropped into some deserted out- 
house if it was not convenient to carry him a long way 
to his own home. You hear sometimes in an indefinite 
way of such awful heathenism, but when you come 
directly in contact with it in this most cruel, heartless 
form it is sickening. 

Occasionally the good-nature of the foreign doctor is 
imposed upon. Frauds are perpetrated, and many colored 
stories are told to elicit sympathy and charity. While 
these cases are rare, they do occur, and invariably have in 
them some very pathetic truth. 

Recently a man was brought to the hospital with both 
eyes literally gouged out. The story was as pitiful as the 
sight. The man — a well-built, sturdy-looking young 
fellow; married, and had a wife and one son — was going 
home alone in his boat; had twenty dollars with him. 
It seems that for some time he had been a leader in his 
neighborhood of an effort to drive out a band of organ- 
ized robbers who were living around the village. This 
marked him, of course, in the eyes of the robbers. Four 
of them overpowered him and called for his money, 



46 CHINA AND JAPAN 

which he refused to give up. Resisting them, he was 
beaten fearfully, evidently with bamboo rods. His 
clothes were torn from him. He still refused to give 
up his money. The marks on his face showed too well 
what followed. A knife was plunged into the left eye, 
the bridge of his nose broken, and his eyes gouged out. 
His story was a pitiful one, and his appeals to the doctor 
were heartrending. 

"Foreign doctor, please, can't you give me a little 
light .^ I want to see the light!" The old father of the 
young man stood by sobbing while the doctor had to tell 
the poor fellow that he had no eyes ; he could not give 
him the light. The foreign doctors have performed so 
many operations that have resulted in permanent relief 
from the suffering which the poor Chinaman has endured 
for so long that they think the doctor can do anything, 
and it was hard to convince this poor man that he could 
not restore the sight, even though the eyes were gone. 

The sequel to this story showed the victim to be a 
fraud. The inflamed sockets were treated and the man 
made as comfortable as possible. After several days, 
during which time it was noticed that nothing could be 
gotten from the old father as to the history of the case, 
the inflammation had almost subsided. Efforts had been 
made earnestly to draw the man out, when we were sur- 
prised to receive the card of a prominent official ; he had 
come with his police to arrest the poor fellow. The man 
proved to be the leader of a desperate band of robbers. 
In a jealous rage the leader of a rival band had fallen 



CHINA AND JAPAN 4.7 

on this man, beaten him, and in his fury wreaked the 
utmost vengeance by putting out his victim's eyes, then 
permitting him to escape with his life. 

The patient, who had so successfully aroused the 
doctor's interest, was taken away under strong guard and 
put in prison. 

Doctor Trawick has just come in from the hospital and 
told me of a terrible case that was brought there to-day. 
The Chinese often attempt suicide, for they believe that 
death ends all trouble. This man tried to commit suicide, 
and this was his mode of operation. He took a china 
bowl and broke it, then with the rough pieces he cut into 
his abdomen, cutting through the flesh and also into the 
covering to the intestines; tore himself to pieces with the 
jagged edges of the broken bowl. Then he powdered 
some of the china and swallowed it. After three days 
his friends brought him to the hospital. Doctor Trawick, 
with an assistant, got to work immediately and tried to save 
the man's life. In cleaning and feeling around in the ab- 
domen, what should he find but a brass key to a Chinese 
lock; this key is about six inches long, and to make his 
suicide a success he had stuffed this key through the cut 
into the intestines. It remains to be seen what will be 
the result. He has lived through the operation, which 
seems wonderful when you remember it had been three 
days since the attempt at suicide. 



CHAPTER XIV 
A Letter from a Penitent Pupil 

The following letter was given me by Miss W., a 
teacher in one of the schools here in Soochow, with 
an interesting account of the reason for its produc- 
tion. The pupil, a bright young man, had in his infancy 
been betrothed to a girl about his own age, whom, accord- 
ing to Chinese custom, he had not seen. 

He was sent to the Christian school, and of course at- 
tended church. In church and on such occasions he had 
opportunities to catch glimpses of a little girl with whom 
he had played as a little boy, and whom his young heart 
yearned for tenderly. 

During the years of his studies with Miss "W. his 
love for the little Christian girl grew, and his determina- 
tion increased not to marry the heathen girl to whom 
his parents had bound him in his babyhood. In his per- 
plexity he confided in Miss W. She promised to do 
all she could to influence the boy's father and mother to 
release him from the contract with the heathen girl, but 
Miss W. warned him that he must strictly observe 
all Chinese customs, and not attempt to talk to nor 
write letters to his sweetheart. The boy promised, but 
one day in church he saw his love do something of which 
he did not approve, so in his eagerness to correct her 
conduct wrote a note sharply reprimanding her. The 



CHINA AND JAPAN ^p 

rebuke was evidently too severe, for the maiden was 
seen crying bitterly soon after receiving his note. In his 
grief at causing her pain, he wrote a second note begging 
her not to be hurt by what he had said. Miss W. 
soon heard of this flourishing correspondence, and in 
order to call to the boy's mind his promise not to attempt 
to see his sweetheart nor to write letters to her she 
told him that for his disobedience she must refuse to 
have anything further to do with the affair, and could not 
afford to attempt to influence the boy's father and mother 
if the boy insisted on breaking his promises. This 
brought the young man sharply around. He saw that it 
would go hard with him should he be left to work out his 
case alone with his parents. 

In his distress he composed the following true con- 
fession and appeal: 

Shanghai. 
My dear Miss W. 

Thousand thoughts of unpleasant came into my heart 
after I have done it, though it says nothing wrongly but 
I knew why I did this things was wrongly. 

How sorry you know it must be in that very time I felt 
my sin, not only hurt you but hurt myself also. 

In the time which I promised you I felt that is very 
easy for me to keep it so I contempt it, and did not pay 
any notice for, but when the temptation came I can't 
manage myself at all, as if it says, " never mind it's noth- 
ing for you if you do it," and so I was failed. 

Very very much sorry as I have been yielding to the 
temptation and breaked my beautiful promise and de- 
ceived my best Friend and Teacher. 



50 CHINA AND JAPAN 

Until last Friday I received from you I read it over 
and so much afflictions added to my soul, almost break 
my heart, many a sorrowful tears have been shed from 
my spiritual soul as many from my bodily eyes. 

I have disappointed myself to be a strong christian 
and do the very Will of God, for I have deceived my best 
Friend who paid her confidence to me and trusted strongly 
upon my promise which is breaked. 

The deep sorrows of my spirit has been blocked thick- 
ly up of my long cherished determination and desire. 
Thereupon in this several days after I received your letter 
I have waste a plenty of time, by my despairing mind and 
my memory has been escaped also, tho' it's better now. 

Behold my state, full of misery, of weekness, of dark- 
ness! And from all this I conclude that I am to pass al 
the days of my life without knowing what shall become 
of I or what is to befall me. Perhaps I might find some 
mirth and joy, time and opportunity in my troubles and 
in my disappointments, or else I might bearing it for 
everlasting. 

Fy! how can I see my dear Friend again. Am I covered 
my face with napkins or painted it with gold! Nothing 
but repents and ask forgiveness, for my Redeemer Jesus 
has been also forgiven Peter in three times, so I am dare 
to ask also. Will you please to excuse me kindly with 
your true heart and don't remember it again for I offor- 
ing my true repentance both to God and to you from my 
innermost heart. 

Also I promised you again, although I am ashamed to. 
I shall keep it and never do it again except your promise, 
if God help me. 

Remember that I have unaccomplished all of my 
studies a long time since I received from you. And now 
I standing for your letter of generous excuse. Please you 



CHINA AND JAPAN 5/ 

pray for me especially ask God to give me double 
strength and help me standing firm in temptations for I 
am the weakest child of God. 

Please also pray for me that God's have mercy on me 
again and give me more favour and deliver me from all 
troubles. 

Not only that, especially to be earnest in His Holy 
Doctrine and be the mighty leader of the world. 

Please tell Miss A. and Miss T. that I am sorry that I 
have any opportunity to write them for my heart is] very 
much confused, but I remember them and also longing 
for their letters. Now good-bye. 

Your loving, sorry pupil and boy, 

Oo FoK Pau. 



CHAPTER XV 
Off for Japan 

As I have written you, we are to spend our summer 
in Japan. We crossed the China Sea in a small Japa- 
nese steamer called the " Hakuai Maru." I say small, 
that is by comparison to such steamers as the " China," 
one of the Pacific mail steamers. This, however, was a 
clean, trim little steamer, owned and manned by Japa- 
nese. It was built to be used as a hospital ship during 
the China-Japan War. The Red Cross consequently 
figures prominently in the decoration of the ship's in- 
terior. We had very pleasant traveling companions, and 
would have thoroughly enjoyed the two days' run to 
Nagasaki from Shanghai had we not been tossed and 
tumbled about rather mercilessl}^ by the not too quiet 
nor amiable China Sea, famous for its capacity to make 
people seasick. Even the best of sailors suffer some- 
times from the criss-cross swell encountered. 

On Monday morning we anchored in Nagasaki harbor. 
The heavy rain that fell almost continually during the 
day prevented me from going ashore. 

Here we enjoyed again the interesting experience of 
* 'coaling." Nagasaki, you know, is a famous coaling 
station for all transpacific steamers. The Japanese 
companies owning steamers that ply between local ports 
also have arrangements here for taking on coal. It is a 



CHINA AND JAPAN 53 

sight worth seeing, and the rapidity with which the httle 
people ill! a ship's coal bunkers is remarkable. 

Well, after the day here we weighed anchor, and soon 
were gliding with the daylight out and away between the 
green hills and over the tumbling, tossing waves. The 
night run was smooth, and early daylight found us an- 
chored in the narrow straits between Moji and Shimonoseki, 
the southern entrance to the Inland Sea. Moji was to 
be our landing-place. The sun came up over the beauti- 
ful mountain tops, and the swish of the tiny waves or an 
occasional call from the ever-present "sampan" broke 
the early morning stillness. We were waiting. We 
knew our train left the station at Moji for Hiroshima at 
about eight o'clock, and every minute was precious, for 
this train was the "express," and to miss that might 
mean a tedious wait in a small, uninteresting Japanese 
village. The ship's breakfast gong sounded, and we soon 
were ready with our baggage to board the launch and go 
ashore. But the ostentatious "quarantine" officers were 
not so eager as we were. That trying formality over, we 
hoped to board the launch and start, but not so; there 
was some more bowing and mumbling and dofling of 
hats, then word came that we could go aboard the small 
tug, puffing and making itself heard with the character- 
istic persistency of its masters. We again hoped to be 
put ashore at the "customs station," but here again one 
of those hard-to-be-explained whims of the Japanese 
manifested itself. We were put into a "sampan" fully half 
a mile away from that "traveler's misery" — the customs 



54- CHINA AND JAPAN 

station. Slowly and gradually we approached that sta- 
tion, but rapidly and with almost maddening persistency 
the time slipped away. After we had secured the coveted 
chalk-marks on our baggage there remained somewhat 
less than half an hour to make it to the railway station. 
No one could be prevailed upon to call a baggage cart or 
rickshaw, so Doctor Trawick attended to that himself, 
soon finding that the energy and insistency that might 
avail at home was worse than wasted on these Orientals. 
It was a queer procession that wended its way through 
the mud of the narrow village street, around and about, 
till it seemed we were certainly going away from the 
railway station rather than toward it. There at the 
head of the procession was a small push-cart, not unlike 
the once-familiar Italian banana carts, with our heavy 
baggage, slowly grinding its way pushed by a tiny Jap, 
who seemed to be possessed of phenomenal strength. 
Following our leader, I came in a rickshaw with my suit 
case and hand satchel, then bringing up the rear-guard 
was Doctor Trawick in a rickshaw with his hand baggage. 
As we came up to the station we had just three 
minutes in which to check our baggage, buy tickets, and 
board our train, besides send a telegram to our friends 
at Hiroshima. To our dismay, no one in all that busy, 
bustling crowd could speak a word of English. The bell 
was ringing for the departure of our train. We felt we 
must not miss it. The little baggage-master fussed and 
declared there wasn't time to check the baggage. Doctor 
Trawick insisted that we must catch that train, While 



CHINA AND JAPAN 55 

he was superintending the weighing and checking, I had 
somehow gotten through the gate onto the platform. The 
bell-ringer took his bell and was just beginning to sound 
the last warning when I, in my eagerness to have the 
baggage all put aboard and Doctor Trawick safe 
through with his interview with the officers, called to 
the man: "Don't ring! Don't ring that bell!" In his 
amazement he dropped his bell, and with his hands 
hanging idly at his sides, his mouth half open, and his 
face a picture of surprise and wonder, I saw how ridiculous 
the situation was, and Doctor Trawick and I both enjoyed a 
long, hearty laugh as we hurried after our baggage, saw it 
safely in the car, then were ushered into our own apart- 
ments. The doors were slammed and the shrill whistle 
of the guard signaling to the engineer to start, the rum- 
ble of wheels and the screech of the little locomotive, 
all were parts in the ludicrous scene. We had kept the 
train waiting nearly fifteen minutes, and by no other 
means than what we would at home call "a bluff." 

After all, we failed to catch the express, and instead of 
making the run from Moji to Hiroshima in five hours 
we were ten on the road. But that was a delightful day 
we spent. I have never passed through a country where 
the scenery was more like my idea of fairyland. There 
were, to be sure, startling evidences of humanity, and 
that in rather a primitive state ; but the mountains on 
the one hand, shelved with their waving plots of rice 
fields, capped with green and veiled often^with|films of 
clouds ; on the other the ever beautiful, ever changing 



^6 CHINA AND JAPAN 

glint and green of the Inland Sea, now washing up on the 
rocks of the railway bed in foam of glistening white, now 
lying like a dream of peace between the purple and blue 
mountain-islands — could there be a more pleasing com- 
bination to make up pretty scenery for eyes tired of the 
severe plains of the low-lying land in China about 
Soochow ? 

A happy day was that we spent on the way to Hiro- 
shima. Just as the sun went down behind the moun- 
tains and darkness came on we rolled into the station at 
Hiroshima, and there met our friends. They had been 
to meet every train from the south. Our telegram had 
been badly interpreted by an accommodating Japanese, 
and of course misled them. Here we spent two pleasant 
days, seeing the school, attending the commencement 
exercises, visiting the Naval Academy of Japan, and wit- 
nessing a grand review and drill of the soldiers stationed 
there. 

On the third day we, with our friends, got an early 
morning train for Kobe. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Traveling by Rail in Japan 

Our stay in Kobe was very pleasant. We met many 
people there, some of whom we have heard of for a long 
time, others none the less cordial because we were 
strangers. 

Our destination, however, is a little village way up in 
the mountains, called Karuizawa. Let me take up our 
diary from the time we left Kobe. 

Wednesday we took the early morning train for Tokio. 
This is a long, tiresome trip of over twelve hours, but the 
entire party agreed to make it by rail, because I am such 
a poor sailor. The second-class coaches are just as 
comfortable as the first-class, the only difference, as some 
people say, is in the number of mirrors. The first-class 
have a greater number of these useful articles. The cost of 
travel in the second-class coaches is about one third less 
than in the first-class, so we traveled second-class, as 
nearly everybody does. The weather was perfect, the 
scenery constantly changing, mountains and valleys, 
oceans and rivers, everything to make the trip delightful. 
We see marvelous combinations of heathenism and 
civilization on every side. At all the stations the active 
Japanese boy is seen with large boxes of lunch and cups 
of hot tea. Tokio is the Mecca of Japan. Every one 
goes up to Tokio or down to Tokio or over to Tokio. 



S8 CHINA AND JAPAN 

We did not have to depend on Japanese food for our 
unch, as we had brought some with us. There was no 
dining car on this trip. It looks queer to see a httle Jap 
come into a car. The seats are frequently running 
lengthwise the car. The first thing he does is to spread 
his steamer rug or blanket out on the seat. All the space 
thus covered is his and no one dares to trespass. Then 
he takes off his shoes and sits on the top of his rug. 
When we stop at a station, boys come to the windows 
with large trays of lunch-boxes and candy to sell; others 
will have trays full of little teapots of hot tea. Some of 
these pots with little cups are very artistic and pretty, 
and I felt like getting a dozen or so to send to my friends 
at home, for they would be curios from Japan. The tea 
leaves are put into the pot, and in his hand the boy 
carries a large copper vessel of hot water. When some 
one wishes a pot of tea he pours it full of water, puts the 
little cup upside down on top, hands it to the purchaser, 
charging the large amount of one and one half cents for 
the whole thing. After we have bought a pot we can 
have it refilled along the road any place we stop, paying 
one half cent for the refilling. 

We have seen sights wonderful indeed. The Japanese 
are a nation void of modesty. Living in a civilized 
Christian country, you can have no idea how a nation can 
be so lacking in that virtue until you visit Japan. Chil- 
dren ten years of age running around with no garments on, 
and grown men with nothing more than Adam's fig leaf. 



CHINA AND JAPAN 59 

As we sped along through this natural scenery we saw a 
woman out in her front yard with children playing about 
devoid of all clothes, while she took a bath ; there she sat 
in a large tub, scrubbing away, smiling complacently. We 
never see anything like this in China — for you know the 
Chinese do not bathe. Interesting experiences and novel 
sights are never over with when one is traveling in the 
Orient. 



CHAPTER XVII 
A Night in a Japanese Hotel 

On reaching Tokio, we found that our train left very 
early the next morning, so we decided to put up with the 
novel inconveniences of a native hotel, about three 
minutes' walk from the station. 

Our first duty on arriving at the hotel was to take off our 
shoes. There is really a great deal of reason for this queer 
custom. In the first place, the shoes or clogs, or sandals, 
worn by most of the people gather a great deal of dirt as 
the wearers walk. As there are no chairs in their rooms, 
the floor is the great place for eating, sleeping, and sitting, 
hence there is need to keep them clean. It is very easy 
to step out of these clogs, for they are held on only by 
a small strap or cord, which passes between the big toe 
and the second, then over the back of the foot. 

Their stockings are short and made of cloth, mitten- 
like, with a separate place for the big toe. 

After removing our shoes we climbed up a flight of 
steps like a steep ladder, then up a second flight just as 
steep. At the top of this we were shown our rooms. 
There were five in our party. The Japanese never use 
chairs; they kneel down, and sit back on their heels. 
The floors are covered with mattings, which are heavily 
padded. In our room was a lamp on the floor. On one 
side was a small table about three feet square and about 



CHINA AND JAPAN 6i 

one foot high ; on this table were several fans. These 
simple articles, with a large screen, made up the furnish- 
ing of the room. We had a corner room, so the two 
outside walls were like sliding doors, which instead of 
being made of small panes of glass were covered with a 
thin white paper like tissue paper. These doors can be 
pushed back or taken completely out, thus leaving two 
walls open. All around on the outside is a veranda about 
two feet wide. This is entirely closed at night with slid- 
ing doors, of wood instead of paper. The partition 
between this room and the one next (which was occupied 
by two of our party) ran within about two feet of the 
ceiling. This partition was of the same paper doors — in 
fact, this arrangement of screens and sliding partitions is 
found in all Japanese houses. Every sound can be heard 
from one room to the other. 

When we got our baggage settled, the Japanese girls 
came in to fix the bed. They went to a closet in one 
corner and took out two mattresses, which they placed 
side by side in the middle of the floor. These were 
covered with white cotton, and at the head of each was 
placed a round, hard pillow, and on the foot was what was 
supposed to be a comfort, but I was glad it was not cold, 
for the comfort was not at all attractive. This was all, 
except two kimonas for us to sleep in, but we did not care 
for them. The rest of our party, having been in Japan for 
some time, came prepared with sheets and pillows, and 
kindly shared with us. There was no washstand in our 



62 CHINA AND JAPAN 

room, so I concluded to go to the wash room and get off a 
little of the dirt we had collected during our day's journey. 
While we were washing face and hands, in walked three 
Japanese men with their sleeping kimonas. They did 
not seem at all displeased at our presence, but came right 
in and began to wash face and hands. It was quite a 
"sociable time " we were having. While waiting for the 
maids to fix our beds we were served with hot tea, and 
then pipes were brought in for us to smoke. The 
Japanese ladies smoke. After a good night's rest, for we 
were very tired, we managed to persuade the " maid " to 
bring a bowl of water for each of us, so we would be 
spared going to the " family wash room." 

The next morning we made our way down to the 
"cashier's" office, paid our bills, and repaired to the 
restaurant at the railway station, where we had a good 
foreign breakfast. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
High Up in the Mountains of Japan 

From Tokio to Karuizawa is not more than fifty miles, 
yet on account of the rough, mountainous character of 
the country and the many annoying stops made we were 
nearly eight hours making the trip. The little village, 
with its unpronounceable name, is a mere bunch of 
Japanese huts, so the guide-books say, saved from utter 
neglect by foreigners who discovered the place and built 
here summer homes, making an ideal summer resort. 
The plain is some three thousand feet above the sea, sur- 
rounded by many mountain peaks, some, even as I write, 
lost in drifting clouds, some veiled in a purplish haze, 
some catching the clear sunlight and reflecting back to 
us restful tints of green and purple. Towering higher 
than all the rest, with a grandeur and sublimity belonging 
only to greatness, Asama-Yama rises way above the 
minor peaks about, and just as I write the cloud-veil is 
being drawn aside, and there, rising still higher, is a 
volume of black smoke rolling out of the crater, for 
Asama is an active volcano, ten thousand feet high. 

Our last half day before reaching this place was the 
most uncomfortable traveling we have had in Japan. 
The cars were small and crowded, and we had to change 
twice after leaving Tokio; each time the cars were a little 
worse than those we had left. After we had made the 



6^. CHINA AND JAPAN 

last change, however, we had no time to think of the 
unpleasant things, for the interest one feels in the scenery 
and in the wonderful engineering feats of the railway is 
enough to make the time pass rapidly. In the last six 
miles of our journey we passed through twenty-six tun- 
nels, varying in length from a few hundred feet to possi- 
bly half a mile. Out of one dark tunnel into another we 
would rush, across a trestle high above some tumbling, 
roaring mountain torrent, around rough shoulders of 
jagged rocks, continually climbing the steep grade, until 
finally we rush out into the light; our little train acquires 
quickened speed, and with a shriek from the mountain 
locomotive we roll into the little station of Karuizawa. 

After about half an hour's rapid walk in the cool 
mountain air we reached our little summer home, and 
are soon busy arranging baggage, etc., for our sojourn. 

Let me give you a little glimpse at our summering- 
place, Karuizawa. 

Our home has a broad, nice veranda across the front; 
our sitting room is cozy and comfortable, with the Japa- 
nese sHding doors in front. We rent the house ready 
furnished (.?). There are five of us occupying this cottage, 
and we are a congenial, happy party. In our room we 
have a bed, a table (which serves also as a dresser and 
washstand), and a few chairs. This is a front room, 
opening into our "sitting room." Then comes the dining 
room, furnished equally as elaborately. The kitchen is a 
sort of basement arrangement. It is truly camping, but 



CHINA AND JAPAN 65 

we are enjoying it all, and I don't know a happier little 
company. The air is balmy, and the scenery could not 
be surpassed. 

We sit on our front porch and look straight ahead at 
the largest active volcano in Japan. Just a few days ago 
we got a picture of Asama as the black smoke poured out 
in great volumes and rose straight in the air for about five 
thousand feet. The trip to the top of the volcano is one 
we are anticipating with much pleasure. We are told it 
is a tiresome trip, taking about fifteen hours there and 
back, but we are going to take it, and I will write you 
a full description. Sunday morning we went to church, 
and you can never realize what that means to people who 
have lived in the interior and not heard a sermon in 
English for months. To actually be in a church full of 
English-speaking people, hear a good sermon in our native 
tongue, and oh, the singing! At home you might think it 
a poor excuse for a church — a small frame building with 
about one hundred and fifty people in the congregation, a 
small organ, no fine clothes, no up-to-date styles; but 
these are only the outward things. It would be hard to- 
find at home a congregation of that size where all were so 
deeply interested, where God was worshiped so heartily. 
It did me good. 

Monday morning we climbed one of these small moun- 
tains ; the ascent was gradual and beautiful. When we 
got nearly to the top we could look back down into the 
valley and see Karuizawa nestling so quietly, so securely. 



66 CHINA AND JAPAN 

At the top of the mountain we found a Httle Japanese 
village. Such a magnificent outlook as we had! If I 
could only describe it as I saw it — but you know flowery 
descriptions are out of my line. I see it, I enjoy it, but I 
can not describe it. Just as we were entering the village 
— there was only the one street — we saw two little 
Japanese girls playing. They paid no attention to us, 
which astonished me, for foreigners in China always 
create such a sensation. Not so in Japan. As we came 
near the little girls they stepped out in front of us, and 
putting their little hands on their knees bowed low to us, 
at the same time mumbling out a Japanese greeting. It 
always interests and amuses me to see these tiny children 
bowing so profoundly. After a short rest and a full 
breath of high mountain air we started back, gathering 
wild flowers as we descended. How I should love to 
hand you a bunch of these lovely Japanese wild flowers 
which grow so profusely along the mountain side! We 
reached home tired from our long ramble, but, oh! so 
happy, because of the summer we are having. 



CHAPTER XIX 

A Trip to Komoro 

Tuesday we had an excursion on hand to Komoro, 
This is a place thirteen miles away. There were twenty- 
five of us in our party. After an early breakfast we fixed 
up a regular picnic lunch, got our kodak, and walked to 
the station. Our train left at half past nine o'clock. 
Our party filled one coach. After a delightful ride 
through the grandest, most rugged scenery, we reached 
Komoro at half past ten o'clock. This was just an 
ordinary Japanese village, but it was not our objective 
point. We were going to visit a Buddhist monas- 
tery which is built away up on the top of a high 
mountain. The walk to this monastery is said to be 
three miles, but it seems much longer because it is a 
rough mountain climb. How I wish I could give you 
even a faint idea of that ascent, but 'tis simply impossi- 
ble. We wound around and around, sometimes on a 
very good road, following the river, which was plunging 
and dashing along at a terrible rate, reminding us of the 
rapids above Niagara. It looked deep and dangerous. 
Finally we came to a narrow place where these progressive 
imitators had built a suspension bridge — and a pretty good 
one it was, too — then through beautifully shaded lanes, 
after a while coming to the real climb. Our path in one 
place went along the side of the mountain, one or two 



68 CHINA AND JAPAN 

hundred feet above the rushing river. The pathv/ay 
led us continually up, now through short tunnels penetra- 
ting the great rocks, now by a narrow ledge high above the 
rushing water and hugging close the rough side of the 
mountain. This is the kind of scenery I can not describe. 
We climbed up, up, up, and round, round-, round, until 
suddenly we saw ahead of us the temple, built right in 
the side of the mountain away up above us. We took 
a picture of it, which we will send you. We continued 
our climb for awhile and when we reached the monastery 
we were ready to enjoy our lunch, which we had brought 
with us. 

Before entering the building we must remove our 
shoes. Our friends who live in Japan are so accustomed 
to doing this that they don't mind ; in fact, think nothing 
of it, for they have it to do whenever they enter a Japa- 
nese house, but I find it right troublesome. All of these 
floors were covered with the padded matting. After 
having our lunch, sitting on the floor, we went on a tour 
of inspection, and found the room where the gods are 
kept. We got a snapshot of that, too. I am hoping 
our pictures will be good, for we want you to have them. 
After seeing all there was to be seen here we put on our 
shoes and climbed higher to another smaller temple, 
peeped in through the bars at the gods, then on up 
through another tunnel to the top of a high peak; there 
we found an immense old bell, the tone of which was 
deep and beautiful. I gathered some wild flowers, which I 



CHINA AND JAPAN 69 

am going to send you. Here we enjoyed a magnificent 
view, the river flowing like a narrow band thousands of 
feet below us, the volcano puffing out immense volumes 
of smoke, and the old monastery back of us. For some 
time we enjoyed this grand view, then started on our 
return tramp to the station. Our walk back was by a 
different road and not so rugged or beautiful. Coming 
home on the train we were a happy company, singing 
the popular songs. We were tired from our long tramp, 
but it was a jolly, happy crowd that left the train at 
Karuizawa, feeling fully repaid for the trip even if we 
were weary. 



CHAPTER XX 
The Ascent of Asama-Yama 

I have mentioned several times the great puffs of 
smoke which we see occasionally rising from the crater 
of Asama. 

The ascent is one of the favorite trips around Karui- 
zawa, so a party was made up. It was decided to make 
the trip at night, because then it is cooler, and we hoped 
to see the glow of the lava far down in the crater. So by 
eight o'clock we started. We rode on little Japanese 
mountain horses, and each horse was led by a Japanese 
man. We had to go single file along a narrow path. 
Those horses! Occasionally the man would let go the 
rein and allow me to ride alone, but I was always glad for 
him to come back, for I could in no way persuade my 
steed to go out of a walk, and that walk would get slower 
and slower until he was about to stop, then the man 
would come back and lead him again. The many differ- 
ent gaits which that horse could take without ever going 
faster than a slow walk was a marvel to me. Finally we 
reached the foot of the mountain we were to climb. 
Then we dismounted, had a light lunch, and at just eleven 
o'clock we started the ascent. I suppose there is 
no mountain climbing like that of this volcano. The 
whole mountain is bare of any growth after the first few 
hundred feet, and the sandy soil makes it very difficult 



CHINA AND JAPAN ji 

walking. The moon rose just as we started up, so we did 
not have to use lanterns at all. It was a long, hard pull 
up that steep, rugged, yet smooth mountain side, which is 
8,280 feet high. The volcano is still active, as we dis- 
covered later, but there has been no great eruption since 
1783. You know this country is full of volcanoes, but this 
is the largest active one. After much puffing and blowing 
and many rests we reached the crater at half past two 
o'clock, having made the ascent in three hours and a 
half. The crater is three quarters of a mile across. All 
night as we climbed we had seen at intervals of about one 
hour an immense column of smoke come out and majestic- 
ally sail away, not a cloud to be seen. Once the smoke got 
between us and the moon and we were left in total dark- 
ness for a few moments. Between these bursts of smoke 
everything would seem quiet. 

We came up to the very edge of the crater and looked 
down into the great caldron. The moon was bright 
enough to show us the smoke and the whitened sides, but 
not brilliant enough to prevent our seeing the glow from 
the bottom. This was a time when we did not care to 
talk, but we stood in silent awe and wonder at the 
grandeur of it all. In a very few minutes, however, we 
all moved further around to the west, realizing that 
should another cloud of smoke come like we had seen 
three times during the ascent the wind would blow it 
right over us, which would almost surely mean suffocation. 
We had just moved around to the safe side, as we 



yz CHINA AND JAPAN 

thought, put on our heavy wraps — it was very cold up 
there — when we heard, instead of the terrible hissing, 
stewing sound, which is very loud, but which goes on all 
the time, an awful roaring and rumbling, which made us 
all turn and run down the side of the mountain. We 
only ran a few yards, when the great mass of white 
smoke came pouring out from the crater like I imagine 
Aladdin's genii must have appeared. We were assured 
that the wind would take it away from us, which it did, 
but I tell you it was awful to be so close to it, not more 
than a dozen yards away. It looked to me like we were 
bound to be caught in its awful clutches, when the strong 
wind turned it away and took it directly from us. Before 
this was gone, however, we heard more rumbling and 
roaring, much louder and more terrible than at first, and 
then we saw, thrown high up into the air, with that 
monstrous grayish white column of smoke for a back- 
ground, an immense shower of red-hot stones. Of course, 
we fled from this storm of fire, but it was all over before 
we could get out of the way, and there we stood, a party 
of ten, surrounded by those glowing stones, which had 
fallen with such force as to bury themselves in the sandy 
soil instead of rolling down the mountain's steep side. 
Two of our party were standing not six feet apart, and 
one of these stones, weighing at least one hundred pounds, 
fell between them. It was a kind Providence which pro- 
tected us and nothing else, for it was impossible for us to 
get out of the way before it was all over. If we had not 
moved from the first position we could not have escaped, 



CHINA AND JAPAN 73 

for afterward we went back and found that on that very 
spot the stones had fallen like hail. 

The next phase of the situation was ridiculous. As 
soon as the smoke cleared away and the awful rumble 
ceased, it was funny to hear the different ones calling for 
each other. It really was wonderful to see how far some 
of us had run down that steep place. Three minutes 
earlier we would have been too tired to even walk slowly 
and carefully down. Some wanted to go right home 
instead of waiting to see the sun rise, as we had planned. 
Finally we decided to sit down under an overhanging 
rock, where we would be somewhat protected should a 
larger shower of stones come, and wait for the sunrise, 
as day was already beginning to break. After we got 
seated and rested somewhat, some one suggested that we 
sing. One of the gentlemen, who has a good voice, 
started "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," 
and I never heard anything more impressive than the 
mellow sound of the voices of those seven men singing 
that old hymn, and I am sure it was never sung with more 
real feeling. After daybreak, but before the sun was 
up, we concluded to move to a more level place, a little 
farther down the mountain side, where we could eat our 
breakfast with more comfort. One must see the sun rise 
from the top of a high mountain to have any conception 
of the grandeur of it. You see my supply of adjec- 
tives has long since been exhausted — the deep purple of 
the mountains nearest us, the next range not quite so 



7^ CHINA AND JAPAN 

deep in tint, then the shades coming on up to a deep 
orange. You may wonder how the sky could shade 
from purple to orange, and I can not enlighten you, but all 
I know is — it did. Away to our left was a Nile green — 
oh, every color and shade could be found somewhere in 
that sky. Then in one direction were the beautiful fleecy 
white clouds lying in soft billows over Karuizawa, and off 
in the distance could be seen Fuji-Yama, the sacred 
mountain of the Japanese, a picture of which one nearly 
always finds on their fans. 

After the sun was well up and we had breakfasted 
we started down the mountain, a rather disheveled 
crowd, reaching our starting place of the night before just 
about seven o'clock. Here, after another rest, we mounted 
our rough ponies and rode back to Karuizawa, and at ten 
o'clock we reached our little home, tired, dusty, and warm. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Delights at Karuizawa other than Mountain 
Climbing 

In addition to the happy meeting with congenial 
people we have had several occasions to enjoy the 
"talent" represented. There seems to be a general 
recognition of the fact that in our busy, every-day lives 
most of us here have not had opportunity to enjoy good 
music and to hear our church services conducted in our 
good English tongue. Hence those who can do so have 
united to give us who can't perform some really delight- 
ful concerts. 

Friday night we went to one of these, and enjoyable 
it was, too. The first piece on the program was an 
organ trio, to be played on "baby organs." You would 
have been surprised to hear the music those three fine 
musicians got out of those little instruments. I did not 
think when I was at home that I was particularly fond of 
music, but out here, where we seldom hear any, it is a 
perfect delight to me. I actually get homesick for some 
good music. Only this morning at church the last hymn 
was "All hail the power of Jesus' Name," sung to 
" Coronation," and at the last verse the two organists 
stopped playing, stood and sung with the rest of the con- 
gregation, and I could not keep back my tears. You who 
can be in the big congregation and hear fine music can't 



76 CHINA AND JAPAN 

understand this, but when for months one has been deprived 
of church privileges except a service in a foreign language 
it is such a treat to attend once more and hear and join in 
the songs in your own mother-tongue. One of our lady 
missionaries told me that her first Sunday in America, 
after being here six years, was spent in San Francisco. 
She went to church alone, not even knowing of what 
denomination the church was. She was so overcome by 
the pipe organ, the big congregation, and fine singing that 
she sat and cried like a child through the entire service. 
This concert was very enjoyable then, for it was the first 
of the kind we had attended since leaving home. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Doctor Trawick's Mist-Soldiers 

My little sister, did you ever see the clouds come down 
from over the mountain into your very door ? Well, not 
many nights ago the clouds came down and into our very 
front door, and they were such strange visitors. I was 
standing out in front of our little home here watching the 
mists gather upon the mountain sides. It seemed to me 
that a white ghost-army was being called together. The 
wind waited till the "mist ranks" were all arranged, then 
a blast, and down the mountain passes came the white 
hosts, bank upon bank, piled high until the very sky was 
not to be seen. On and on came the silent host until 
every tree and bush was captured and taken prisoner. 
Even the near-by mountains were taken away from 
our sight. As the army came nearer our house the 
little mist-soldiers seemed to grow wild with eagerness. 
The winds freshened up, and with another blast down 
they came upon us, and we, too, were taken prisoners. 
Then came the mists right in on our front porch, around 
my feet, then climbed all over your big sister's shoulders 
and kissed her curly hair. Wasn't that a nice thing for 
"mist-soldiers" to do .^ Around and around the imps 
wandered, sometimes stopping as if dazed and not mov- 
ing in the rooms until the officers, the winds, called 
again, and out flew the white visitors and away on down 



78 CHINA AND JAPAN 

the valley until, gathering all in one mighty host, they 
charged a mountain not far away and swept over his 
rugged old body as though he were no more than a sand- 
heap. I was so glad to see the little mist spirits, for you 
have often seen them gathered in little companies away 
off in the valleys, sometimes camping in the very tree- 
tops, but always a long way off. Well, this time they 
came right into our faces, into our room, gathered around 
the brightly burning lamp and tried hard to capture the 
light, but it was fine to see how the beams of light which 
the lamp kept sending out so bravely just penetrated 
through the crowds of curious mist-soldiers, never once 
giving up. I have met the clouds often since coming to 
this place of the "unpronounceable name," but as often 
as I have seen them and thought with them and heard 
their moist secrets dropping all around me I have never 
yet lost interest, nor have they allowed me to grow too 
familiar. For they seem to have a way of vanishing 
when I come near. Some time I will write you what I 
think of thunder and lightning. Do you want to know .? 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Leaving Karuizawa and a Stop in a Japanese Hotel 
IN Kyoto 

On the morning of our departure from Karuizawa we 
were up early, packing and arranging for the trip down 
to the "ordinary level" of people and events. A happy 
party we were, as quite a number of our friends went with 
us to the railway station to see us well started. After all, 
it is hard to leave a place where one has so thoroughly 
enjoyed people and surroundings without some little 
twinges of regret, even though that place has been 
altogether strange and in the midst of strangers. 

It is not necessary to repeat the description of our trip 
down through the same long succession of tunnels and 
high bridges. 

We arrived in Tokio in the afternoon, took the local 
train down to Yokohama, there spent the night in a 
pretty, dainty little "Swiss Hotel," and were up and off 
after an early breakfast next morning to catch the train 
for Kyoto. We reached there at nine o'clock at night, 
dusty and tired from our ride on the train from Yokohama. 
We found that the friends whom we were to meet here 
had preceded us, and had found a nice hotel and ordered 
baths and rooms ready for us. Now, hot baths are one of 
the joys of the Japanese; cold ones, too, for that matter. 
They always have in their bath rooms a large wooden 



8o CHINA AND JAPAN 

tub in which the water is heated by a pecuhar arrange- 
ment. A section of pipe, hke a joint of stove-pipe, is 
placed in the back of the tub, so that the water in the 
tub surrounds the joint. In this a handful of charcoal is 
placed, and it is remarkable how quickly a big tub of water 
is thus heated. In their bath rooms they have a stone or 
tile floor, made with a slight grade, and a drain pipe at the 
lower side. The process of the bath is this: There is a 
small foot-tub in which you are supposed to really take 
your cleansing bath, splashing as much water on this 
stone floor as you choose. Then, when you are thoroughly 
free from dirt, you take a " plunge" in this big tub of hot 
water, out again, rub down with a coarse towel, and pour 
the water out of the small foot-basin onto the floor. The 
next person that comes in, be he man or woman, dips some 
hot water out of the big tub in which you have taken 
your plunge, takes his or her bath, as the case may be, 
then plunges into the same big tub of scalding water that 
you and many, perhaps, before you have used in the same 
way, and so it goes on all day long. Miss G. said 
there were no other guests in the hotel besides us, and 
she had tried to keep the baths just for us. Nevertheless, 
none of our party ventured into the big tub, yet we had 
to fill our small tub from it. "Well, we had our baths, 
hoping no one had taken a plunge. 

When my time came I came downstairs in my silk 
bathrobe and slippers. The little Jap maid met me at 
the foot of the stairs to show me the way to the bath. I 



CHINA AND JAPAN 8i 

had to go across the courtyard. Now, it is just as 
improper to go out into the courtyard, which is as clean 
as a floor, without shoes as it is to wear shoes in the 
house, so this girl tried to put a pair of Japanese gaiters 
on me, like those I sent you. To put that little strap 
between my big toe and my second toe and then try to 
walk about thirty feet on those high things was too funny. 
I had to have a Japanese girl on each side of me to help me 
along. I laughed and so did they, although we could not 
say one word to each other, for I did not know Japanese, 
nor did they know English. Finally I finished my bath, 
and a delightfully refreshing one, too, and on returning to 
my room I found the bed all fixed. When I left the room 
it was perfectly empty but for two small tables about ten 
inches high and a few leather cushions on the floor on 
which to sit. During my absence the maid had brought 
from the closet the heavy mattress, put it in the middle of 
the floor, put on sheets and comforts, then had tied a 
mosquito net up over the whole. The net was made with 
a square top, the four corners of which were tied to 
screws in the ceiling, which are only about seven feet 
high. The nets are made of green, only much heavier 
than the kind we use at home. 

Doctor Trawick's bath was funny. When he went 
down he found a Japanese girl in "nature's garb" 
just finishing her bath. She deliberately and quietly 
left the room by one door as he went in by the other, 
and a man came in by the same door she had just 



82 CHINA AND JAPAN 

passed out, to fix the Doctor's bath for him. Very 
sociable these people are. 

Thursday morning we began to make our toilet, but soon 
discovered that such a thing as a washstand was unheard 
of in Japan; the Japanese wash their faces at a kind of 
table by the well, using little brass wash-basins. Doctor 
Trawick went down to the well with the " crowd. " When 
he came back he asked me if I had noticed the noise 
of splashing water which had been going on for some 
few minutes. I said I had, and wondered what it was. 
He replied : "There is a man down by the well in an 
almost nude state. He draws a bucket of water from 
the well, pours it on his head, letting it run down over 
his shoulders, then another and another, repeating the 
operation — a kind of primitive shower bath, see.?" Well, 
I was glad I had my basin in my own room, for it would 
have been all the same had I been there. By the time 
we had finished our toilets the bed had been removed 
and we were ready for breakfast. They had our break- 
fast of foreign food sent in from a restaurant, and served 
it to us from little tables as we sat Jap-like on the soft mat- 
ting on the floor. There were six of us in our party, and 
after breakfast we started out in double rickshaws sight- 
seeing. First we went to see some fine embroidery. 
Oh, it was magnificent ! They had bedspreads of satin 
embroidered all over, one in olive green, one in pink and 
yellow chrysanthemums, and I think he only asked fifty- 
five yen for it. Those silks, my, how elegant! One of 
our party bought a white corded wash silk, very heavy 



CHINA AND JAPAN 83 

and beautiful, enough for a shirt-waist, for less than two 
yen, I think, but I have forgotten the exact price. The 
silks and crepes were, oh, so beautiful. They had pic- 
tures, copies of water-colors, embroidered so beautifully 
that ten feet away one could not tell whether they were 
painted or embroidered. A cat's head on one was 
perfect. 

After leaving there we went to the factory where they 
make cloisonne. This cloisonne is made entirely by 
hand, and they sometimes spend years on one piece. 
The article is first made of silver or copper, or even gold; 
then the design is drawn on it, after which this is put on in 
gold or silver flat wire, tiniest pieces at a time. You just 
can't imagine anything as delicate as this work. It is all 
done in a small room about fifteen by sixteen feet, with a 
little table in front of the worker on which he keeps his 
materials. This wire is kept in place by a mucilage put 
on by the tiniest brush before the wire is placed. After 
the design in wire is all finished another man takes it and 
puts the colors on, which look like powder. He wets 
a sharp little instrument and dips it into the powder, 
then proceeds to fill up each tiny space between the wires 
with the color desired; this is, of course, very delicate 
and tedious work, and after it is done the piece is fired. 
I do not know how many times each piece is fired, but at 
last it is highly polished with a stone. They have ten 
different kinds of stones with which they polish one piece, 
using the stones in regular order. Now you can have 



84. CHINA AND JAPAN 

some idea why cloisonne is so awfully expensive. Even 
if you have always admired it much, you will do so more 
when you see them making it. We next went to see the 
damascene goods. This place was even smaller than 
where the cloisonne was made — a small, dirty room with 
about a half dozen men at work. This work I was not 
familiar with, at least by that name. Cigar cases, belt 
buckles, card cases, jewelry boxes, etc., are made. The 
foundation is iron; this is shaped, then with a small, 
sharp instrument and a tiny hammer very fine file-like 
grooves are cut in four different directions. The design 
is then laid on the vase in gold or silver wire; these wires 
are hammered into place, and the background then filled 
in with black lacquer. This is fine, delicate, beautiful 
work; you can have no idea of it until you see it made. 
It is entirely different in appearance from cloisonne, but 
some prefer it. Then we went to see them make some 
very fine porcelain, which was decorated entirely by 
hand. Human labor is so much cheaper than machinery 
that nearly everything is done by hand. We went in the 
afternoon to visit some temples, which I will tell you 
about in my next letter. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Visits to Temples in Kyoto 

A very pleasant day in Kyoto was spent in seeing the 
temples there. First we went to a Buddhist temple that 
had been destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the early sixties; 
the people all contributed to the rebuilding of this 
immense structure. The coolies, who had no money, 
felt it would be even more acceptable to the gods if they 
would give lumber or stone rather than money ; the 
women gave their hair, out of which a rope was made, 
and it was used in the building of the temple. We saw a 
part of this rope, which was said to be three hundred feet 
long; it was about five or six inches in diameter, and it 
was plain that it really was made of hair. Of course, off 
came our shoes when we entered this temple. After seeing 
and examining this rope made of women's hair we went 
around to another gate and entered the main building, 
putting on our shoes while walking through the outside, 
removing them on entering. The entire floor of this 
immense building is covered with padded matting. This 
was made in sections about four by six feet, bound 
around the four edges so it could be taken up and brushed 
well and then relaid without tacking. Gods, altar place, 
decorations, and all are gilded with a covering of gold; 
even the ceiling is of gold. 



86 CHINA AND JAPAN 

While we stood looking we saw two or three Japanese 
come in, kneel down, sit back on their feet, throw a piece 
of money on the floor, then clasp their hands inside of a 
bracelet made of beads, then mumble their prayers, bow 
their heads to the floor, say more prayers, bow again, and 
so on. Some stayed much longer than others. We tried 
to take a picture of it, but as soon as we took out our 
kodak a priest came running to us and said : " No 
pictures allowed. " One old priest went around with a 
wooden arrangement made like a dust-pan and picked up 
the money. There were three large rooms, very similar 
in appearance, where the people went to pray, besides 
many, many other rooms where the priests live or attend 
to business of all kinds. We went from this large temple 
to one much smaller, where there was an immense 
' ' Diabutsu. " This is a large Buddha like we see pictures 
of so much. This one was fifty feet high, a hideous thing, 
built of wood and then painted. We walked up on a 
platform behind it and saw the framework; the back was 
not even planked up, hollow and superficial, like their 
religion. How these people, who are so remarkably 
progressive and intelligent, can worship a thing that they 
have made themselves and painted and set up is beyond 
my comprehension. After leaving this place we stopped 
at the entrance to buy some ice lemonade, so-called, and 
it will be a wonder if we are not all full of microbes from 
the quantity of that stuff we drank. 

On our way from the temple we passed a large grass- 
covered mound, on top of which was a stone monument, 



CHINA AND JAPAN 87 

on which was carved the character meaning "ear." We 
were told that several hundred years ago, when the 
Japanese invaded Korea, they cut off all the ears of their 
prisoners and buried them there, making this mound and 
erecting this monument to commemorate the deed. We 
next visited a very old temple, where they claim to have 
333,000 gods. We saw rows and rows of them standing on 
tiers, all just alike, and on walking around them through 
a back passage we came across the place where they sold 
prayers. Now, you have read of this being done in 
heathen countries, but this is the first time we have really 
seen it done. By this time our feet were sore and 
blistered from walking in our stockings without shoes. 
We came out, put on our shoes, and went for a long ride 
out to the palace grounds. We could not see the palace, for 
it is concealed from the public view by a high brick wall, 
but the broad streets leading to it, with great parks on 
each side, were beautiful to us after the narrow, filthy 
streets of China. 

We returned to our hotel just in time for supper; this, 
we decided, should be a fit ending to a delightfully happy 
day, so we ordered a Japanese supper instead of our usual 
foreign meal. This was to be served to us on the house- 
top, on a small platform, or as we called it, "roof gar- 
den." The supper was brought, each person's on a 
separate tiny lacquered table — a bowl of rice, a plate with 
small fish, which looked like sardines, but were fresh 
fish nicely cooked ; a dish of pickle ( this was awful) ; 



88 CHINA AND JAPAN 

sweet potatoes boiled in their jackets, and a dish of some- 
thing that smelled terribly and tasted worse. This we 
supplemented with baker's bread, jam, and butter. The 
chop-sticks are brought in to you in an envelope, the 
two sticks together and stamped on the end so that you 
may know they are new, never having been used; I am 
sending you a pair. When you break them apart you 
will find a toothpick in the groove made for it between 
the sticks. We had this jollification on the housetop 
with a Japanese lantern to furnish the light, "muchly" 
assisted by the moon, which was full that night. 

After supper we started out to see Kyoto by electric 
light, going first to what was evidently the main street 
of the town. My, what a sight it was ! The streets 
crowded like the Midway ; fakirs on every side. We 
first visited a bazaar which was something like our five- 
and ten-cent stores in Louisville, only prices vary. Here 
one can buy most anything; we invested in some en- 
velopes, blank books, and pencils. Farther down the 
street we came to a skating rink and " merry-go-round." 
The skates were made by putting a pair of little wheels 
on a Japanese shoe or gaiter; the wheels were put on 
opposite sides instead of at toe and heel, and the floor was 
slightly inclined. Of course there were all kinds of 
skaters. There was the trick skater, who did it so easily 
and beautifully that others were induced to try, and would 
find to their dismay that it was anything but an easy 
thing to do. We strolled on and on, seeing sights novel 
indeed, finally returning to our hotel. When I came 



CHINA AND JAPAN 89 

downstairs that night for my bath the little Japanese 
girl was waiting for me, and when she saw I was unwill- 
ing to risk limb or life on those little Japanese shoes she 
backed up to me, motioning for me to get on her back 
and she would carry me across the court, but I declined 
with thanks and put on my slippers, which could be 
easily removed. The next morning, after a hasty break- 
fast, we boarded the train and in a few hours reached 
Kobe. 



CHAPTER XXV 

A Visit to the " Red Cross Hospital" at Tokio 

One of the surest signs of substantial progress of the 
Japanese is the estabhshing and maintaining by native 
resources of hospitals and infirmaries. 

It seems to be true that the " Red Cross Society " and 
its workings have secured a firm hold on the "fad" 
instincts of the people. The Empress herself is a great 
enthusiast, and of course the imperial patronage insures 
for the movement the support and interest of the people. 

The hospital we visited is beautifully situated about 
three miles out of the city on a little elevation, giving 
it fine surroundings and insuring pure air and plenty of 
sunshine. 

As we came up the driveway approaching the hos- 
pital we were impressed with the size of the well- 
built brick structure, modern in its architecture. In the 
ornamentation of the front of the building was a large 
red cross, the badge, you know, of the organization the 
world over. This badge was placed high up over a sort 
of portico. As we entered the hospital we noticed the 
nurses, all Japanese women, dressed in the regulation 
nurses' costume, with queer-looking high white caps. 
These nurses seemed to be constantly coming and going, 
busy as little ants; the patients were coming into the 
daily clinic or dispensary. The attendance at this daily 



CHINA AND JAPAN pi 

clinic is very large, and I noticed particularly that the class 
of patients here seen did not look like that ordinarily 
seen in our free dispensaries at home. They seemed, 
with a few exceptions, to be of a really respectable class, 
nicely dressed, quiet in their manners. I was very much 
interested in watching them as they came in and took 
their seats near the rooms in which their ailments would 
be treated. Soon a nice-looking Japanese doctor, who 
spoke English, came and politely offered himself as our 
guide through the hospital. He showed us first through 
the different parlors and reception rooms of the main 
building, up a broad stairway to the second story, where 
were parlors and anatomical museum and the Empress's 
own reception room. This last was elegantly carpeted 
and fitted with handsome chairs, settees, etc. On the 
wall over a beautiful marble fireplace was a large full- 
length oil portrait of the Empress. That room is 
supposed to be entered by that celebrity and her attend- 
ants only, hence the purple cords stretched across the 
door barring the entrance of just ordinary sight-seers. 

Looking out from the second story we could see the 
architectural arrangement of the wards. Like a huge 
U, a passageway started at one side from the rear of the 
main building; down this passageway we walked to see 
the different wards opening from it. The patients were 
divided into as many as five different classes, according 
to the rate they were able to pay. The different classes 
were each in separate wards, each ward being separated 



92 CHINA AND JAPAN 

from the other by perhaps fifty feet of lawn, covered with 
grass and ferns and palms. All the way around this long 
passageway we walked, on the one side passing the dif- 
ferent wards filled with patients and on the other looking 
out on a court beautiful with landscape art of the Japa- 
nese — palms and water ferns and rocks and flowers. On 
one side of the U are the wards given up to surgical 
patients, on the other those suffering from other troubles. 
The base of the U is occupied by operating rooms 
devoted to operations on abdomen alone. The twenty- 
eight internes have all they can look after, and there 
is plenty of good, hard work to keep the three hun- 
dred nurses busy. During the China-Japan War this 
hospital was used for soldiers, and not only were the 
wards filled and every bed taken, but the long passage- 
ways were utilized, the sick and wounded lying side by 
side along the floor. 

There is attached to this hospital a free dispensary, 
which we could see just outside the lawn surrounding the 
main hospital. We were very much interested to see their 
complete arrangements for operations. The operating 
rooms — three — large, well-lighted, and clean, were as 
thorough in their appointments and furnishings as one 
would expect to find in our best hospitals in America. 
During the recent trouble in Pekin, China, the Red Cross 
was seen everywhere, and it seemed to those who looked 
on, as the Japanese soldiers were sent out to China, that 
the Red Cross was as prominent almost as the national 
flag, the large red sun on a white background. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

A Few Queer Signs Caught on the Run 

These Japanese people seem to be the greatest " fad " 
fanciers under the sun. Hence one does not have to be 
long in the country to be impressed with their superficial 
ways. One of the most noticeable evidences of their 
desire to affect "English" is the promiscuous use of 
"English as she is spoke and writ" (in Japan). Some 
of their attempts at English idiom are most laughable. 
The signs we see over shop doors and painted in shop 
windows form one of the most amusing diversions to a 
tourist " doing " Japan. At every station along the rail- 
way we see the name of the station painted on a large 
board, both in Japanese and English. This is a great 
convenience, and fortunate for the English there is but 
one word to be spelled — but just glance around. There 
by a stairway leading up and across the railway to 
the other side we see "Passengers alighted here cross 
the bridge to the other side." Speaking of railroads, you 
remember we wrote you of the tunnels on the way to 
Karuizawa. The grade in some parts is very steep, and 
altogether it is a portion of the road over which trains 
must pass very carefully. It seemed, however, that one 
train did not get through safely. Read the following 
notice, which appeared in an English morning paper, 
signed by a Japanese: 



94 CHINA AND JAPAN 

"A train on the S section of Nippon Railway 

Company left Takasaki on the 13th at 7 p. m. and 
advanced to very sharp inclination of Usuii Hill [this is 
the pass through which the tunnels are cut] and after 
twenty more tunnels were passed an accident was found 
in the locomotive engine which was blowing up the steam 
pipe, when the said train was passed about seven-tenths 
of No. 26 tunnels, the last one on having lost steam 
power, the said train began to go behind along the incli- 
nation, and after then the engine exploded ; two engi- 
neers blown out of the locomotive, one of whom lost his 
sense, while another got bruised." 

I give this just as it appeared, with the exception of 
the parenthesis which I inserted about Usuii pass. The 
punctuation is almost as startling as the rhetoric. 

We had many modern conveniences in Karuizawa, 
not the least important of which were three tailors. 
These men had evidently formed a partnership for the 
season, and announced the same by a very unique method. 
A board was tacked up on a post by the roadside, on 
which was written, evidently with a Japanese brush: 

"Each one of this above tailors was working sepa- 
rately until last summer, but we have anexated this year on 
the purpose of the economic so we can comply much order 
and enable to give quite satisfaction to our customers. 
We are very glad to have much order as usually." 

In Kyoto we saw many strange and interesting signs. 
" ThemanufacturerandleaderonYanizori," was the an- 



CHINA AND JAPAN 95 

nouncement made by one shop. The letters were placed 
on the signboard with the evident intention of saving 
space, as close together, one right after the other, as they 
could be placed. In the large bazaar we found envelopes 
labeled: " The envelope manufactured and soled." This 
was a new brand to us, no doubt the genuine article. 

In the temple of the thirty-three thousand three hun- 
dred and thirty-three Buddhas, after entering the repul- 
sive, dark, barn-like structure, we saw the idols arranged 
tier upon tier in long rows, but were forbidden too close 
inspection of them by the sign : 

"All visitors are prohibited to get up to this stages." 
So we contented ourselves with following the well-worn 
paths of the " great unwashed throng." 

In our rickshaw rides through Tokio our appetites 
were more than once whetted by some signs on shop 
windows. One offered: "Modified Cow's Milk for 
Invalids and Children, the Scientific Food." Another 
sold: "Tea, Coffee, Bier, Brandy, Chocolate & Con- 
fectionaly. " There were signs and signs, but after all 
the one most clearly read on every side was " Progress," 
for these people are eagerly grasping everything which 
has a tinge even of " Westernism " in it. On land and on 
sea we note their steps. Even now who can foretell the 
future of this little people } 



CHAPTER XXVII 

At Nagasaki on the Return to China 

To one first coming into any of the harbors of Japan, 
the " sampans " that crowd around the steamer are ever 
interesting. They are httle boats shaped very much like 
a Venetian gondola, only flat on the bottom, and are 
quite long, twelve or fourteen feet. There is a tiny 
cabin in the center, in which I could not begin to stand 
straight, with only a straw mat on the floor, on which we 
must sit Japanese fashion. The boat is worked by a man 
with a flat oar at the stern. He stands up and works it 
with very nearly the same motion that the Chinese use 
on their boats. On a great body of water like the Naga- 
saki harbor these tiny shells rock dreadfully. There are 
hundreds of these boats loafing around every steamer in 
the harbor, hunting a job. We called a sampan and 
went ashore at ten o'clock to mail our letters and " do " 
Nagasaki. 

We took jinrickshaws to the temple, where we were 
told there was a famous bronze horse. We rode and 
rode and rode. I had no idea Nagasaki was such a big 
place ; thought it only a coaling station, but I was mis- 
taken. Finally we reached the entrance to the temple. 
Nagasaki is surrounded by mountains, and this temple is 
on quite a prominence. We started to climb up the 
broad stone steps ; there must be two hundred of them. 



CHINA AND JAPAN p/ 

After passing under the first stone temple arch, called 
Torii — there is always one of these arches placed at the 
entrance to a temple, or even to a tiny shrine — the 
columns of which must have measured four feet in 
diameter, and one made of bronze, our attention was 
attracted by hearing a girl's voice calling to us, " Please 
come in — please come inside and see a dance and have 
some tea." 

We did not accept her invitation, but passed on up 
the steps and under the second arch, which was of stone. 
Here we met with a similar invitation — "Please come 
inside, see a dance and have some tea." We found that 
there were tea-houses all along on both sides of the broad 
stone stairway, and these girls had learned these few 
words in English, and they used them to urge every 
foreigner who came that way to " please come in." After 
passing under six stone arches, which must have been 
thirty feet high, we reached the top of this long flight of 
stairs. On entering the courtyard of the temple we saw 
the famous bronze horse. Well! it may be a horse or it 
may be most any other four-footed animal. It is about 
the size of our little street-car mule, and looks like it had 
all the ailments to which horseflesh is heir, especially in 
its legs. Why this terrible-looking beast is so world- 
renowned I am sure is beyond even my imagination, 
unless it is because of its exceedingly rare qualities, which 
there is no doubt it possesses. 

However, if we were disappointed in the beauty of the 
bronze horse we were fully repaid by the magnificent 



p8 CHINA AND JAPAN 

view we had from this high point of Nagasaki and the 
harbor. Nagasaki harbor is said to be one of the most 
beautiful in the world, and certainly it must be. The 
entrance to the harbor is quite long and narrow. After 
passing through this we came out into an immense 
circular harbor, surrounded on all sides, except the 
entrance, by immense mountain peaks. My forte is not 
in describing magnificent scenery, so I will not attempt 
this. After enjoying this grand view we descended once 
more to earth, got into our jinrickshaws and started back 
to our steamer, stopping by the way to buy some lovely 
Japanese rice-bowls with tops, to take home with us, as 
such as these can not be bought in China. We reached 
our steamer just in time for tiffin, rested in the afternoon, 
and after dinner went up on deck to enjoy the bustle and 
hurry which always precedes the departure of a vessel. 
We were all dreading the trip over the China Sea be- 
cause of its peculiar swell, and it is usually rough sailing, 
but strange to say we have had it delightfully smooth 
and beautiful and are hoping to reach Shanghai without 
encountering any rough weather. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

Some Chinese Callers and Their Peculiarities 

On reaching Soochow after our stop of two days in 
Shanghai, we found our home all nicely put in order and 
as cozy as any home out here, we think. 

Soon after getting everything arranged I was thrown 
into consternation by the announcement made by my 
amah that Mrs. Zee and her daughter (two Chinese 
ladies) were coming to call. What was I to do ? I could 
not speak to them nor could they talk to me. I rushed 
upstairs and hastily wrote a note to my good little Chinese 
friend. Miss Dzung, to please come and help me. You 
see the Chinese that I know is all housekeeping talk, and 
not at all the polite language of society, which is entirely 
different. Well, when I went downstairs I found the two 
Chinese ladies, their amahs and my amah. Mrs. Zee, 
the mother, was dressed in black grenadine made over 
dark blue silk; her hair was elaborately ornamented 
with pearls. She had on fourteen bracelets, seven on 
each arm, all different kinds, from heavy gold bands to 
thin silver ones. Jade bracelets are worn a great deal 
and are very elegant ; the Olga Nethersole bracelet, 
which was such a fad at home a few years ago, has been 
worn here for hundreds of years. 

The younger was about the prettiest Chinese woman 
I have seen. Her eyes were quite expressive and 

LofC. 



loo CHINA AND JAPAN 

very pretty. Of course, they were both painted and 
powdered, and their nails were fully an inch long. The 
married women shave the hair just across the forehead, 
then have a thin fringe of bangs; the hair is perfectly 
straight and black; they all think my wavy, curly hair very 
strange. These ladies felt of it and said "It is like a hat." 
It was pompadoured and down on my forehead on one 
side, while theirs is kept as slick as they can make it with 
oil. They examined my dress and said, *' It is silk," then 
lifted up the drop-skirt and commented on the light blue 
lining. Under this lining they discovered my light blue 
petticoat trimmed in white lace, all of which was "queer, 
strange." 

When they had finished commenting on my apparel 
they asked to go upstairs. The amah had told them 
that I was a "new-comer " and did not speak Chinese, so 
when I would speak to my amah or ask her questions 
they would laugh and repeat my remark, which of course 
was very embarrassing to me, for my Chinese is nothing 
to be proud of, and I did not know but that they were 
laughing at my pronunciation. When they asked to go 
upstairs I found it very convenient not to understand. 
Of course I did understand; I looked blank, but they 
insisted, and finally the mother took hold of my hand, 
pointed up the steps and led me to them, so I could do 
nothing but take them up. It is not always safe to take 
them upstairs when our silver toilet articles are scattered 
around or our nice pins in the tray. There are so many 
amahs and "hangers-on," and the aristocracy themselves 



CHINA AND JAPAN loi 

are not always free from that disease known as klepto- 
mania. I took them into our cozy, pretty little library 
and asked them to be seated, while my amah brought tea 
and served it. By this time my friend. Miss Dzung, 
arrived, and I was somewhat relieved, for she acted as 
interpreter. After drinking tea they arose, as I supposed, 
to go, but I was mistaken, for they only wished to continue 
their tour of inspection. They went into our bed room, 
examined the silver on my dresser, the spread on my bed, 
then to the bath room, commenting particularly on the 
bath-tub. They do not use that article sufficiently often 
for it to be familiar to them. 

Finally they left, after complimenting and flattering 
me in the most approved style, admiring my diamond 
rings and asking the history of my wedding ring. They 
even commented on my teeth when I laughed, which I 
did continually, it was all so funny to me. Then they 
remarked that I must have a very happy, pleasant disposi- 
tion, I laughed so much. Finally, after a call lasting one 
hour, my Chinese ladies left. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

Some Articles on the Bill of Fare of the Chinese 

You suggest that I give you some recipes for Chinese 
cooking. This is almost impossible, for they have not 
the same things that we have; however, I will try to tell 
you of a few dishes which may be interesting. As you 
know, rice is the principal article of food for rich and 
poor, old and young. It looks strange to see a tiny 
Chinese baby; one in America the same age would be 
lying in its dainty crib, fed by a nurse or its mother, while 
this little Chinaman is trying to feed himself his own rice 
with a tiny pair of chop-sticks. The people in this sec- 
tion of China eat very little bread — rice takes its place; 
there is no bread like ours eaten by them. The way 
they eat rice with chop-sticks is to hold a bowl of rice in 
the left hand up to the mouth like a cup and with chop- 
sticks in the right hand — elbows out — literally shove it 
into the mouth. A Chinaman can eat three bowls full 
while a foreigner is getting through with one. There are 
two qualities of rice — the white, like we have at home, 
and the yellow. The latter is the food of the poorer 
classes, as it is cheaper. They eat a great deal of meat, 
and it is generally deliciously prepared. They cook a 
fowl just to the point when it can be brought to the table 
whole, yet can be "carved" with a pair of chop-sticks, 
and it is juicy and nice. They use a vegetable oil (bean 



CHINA AND JAPAN 103 

oil they call it) a great deal for frying purposes — in fact, 
they use it entirely, when we would use either lard or but- 
ter. At an ordinary meal for a family in moderate cir- 
cumstances they have, besides rice, from two to live other 
dishes. Our own Chinese tiffins, which we have occa- 
sionally prepared for us, will consist of four or five dishes, 
usually a lish served whole, from which we pick off bits 
just as we want them, each person with his own chop- 
sticks ; there is never an extra pair with the dish. Then 
there will be eggs cooked in various ways ; one favorite 
way is an omelet with finely chopped meat put on top. 
A slice of this is lifted up with your chop-sticks, put 
on top of your bowl of rice, then your "bit" of fish 
on top of that. Then for another dish they usually have 
"tsay" — anything like cabbage, lettuce, greens, beans, 
or peas is called "tsay." They have many kinds of 
"tsay" which we never have in America. This is 
cooked in bean oil — of course. 

Each kind of "tsay" has its own peculiar flavor. 
Another dish, a meat of which they are very fond, is a 
kind of hash with little or no gravy. The meat is cut like 
potatoes when cut to fry "shoe-strings," instead of like 
our usual way of making hash; this is seasoned with 
oil. They have many kinds of oil with which they season 
things, and they use little or no pepper. Boiled "meat- 
balls " is another favorite dish, and very nice they are. 
If soup is used they all reach into the same big bowl 
with a peculiar little china spoon which is given to 
each person. I do not recall a single vegetable on a 



104- CHINA AND JAPAN 

Chinese table that we have at home. The Chinese raise 
these vegetables, but entirely for foreigners; they do 
not eat them themselves. Their fruits, too, are entirely 
different from ours. They have peaches, but they are 
not just like our " home peaches." The pears are beau- 
tiful to look upon and are juicy, but have no taste and 
are hard, never mellow like those we have always been 
accustomed to see at home. Their persimmons, which 
are ripe now instead of after frost, are large and red and 
look like a tomato. The grapes are like California 
grapes, and are really very nice. I said I had never seen 
any familiar vegetable on a Chinese table; I was mis- 
taken — they eat cucumbers, but not like we do. In early 
spring we see the children on the streets, tiny tots three 
or four years old, eating immense cucumbers eight or ten 
inches long, peel and all, as they would an apple. Think 
of it! One mouthful would kill an American child of that 
age. The Chinese consider cucumbers a great delicacy, 
and, really, they are as nice and crisp here as we find 
them at home. 



CHAPTER XXX 
A Real Chinese Feast in the Home of a Friend 

Recently, with several ladies of our Mission, I was 
invited to a feast at a friend's home in the city. All of 
us went in chairs. We had to go quite a long distance 
through the crowded street, but everything makes way 
for sedan chairs. It is the safest thing to do, for the 
chair-bearers don't mind running into people and knock- 
ing them down. 

After a ride of half an hour we came to a broad open- 
ing like a stable door, right on the principal business 
street of the city. The chairs were carried in through 
this large door and on through two large rooms with 
stone floors. In the second room the chairs were set 
down and we got out. We were led through an open 
court into a large room, one side of which was entirely 
open ; in this room our hostess met us ; she is a 
daughter-in-law. The sons always live at home with 
their parents, each bringing his wife or wives, as the case 
may be, so sometimes there are a hundred people in one 
house, counting servants. This family consisted only of 
the parents, their two sons and their families. 

The room where we were met by our hostess was the 
conventional Chinese reception room. In the center of 
this room was a foreign extension dining table, with a 
tablecloth which looked more like a sheet. You know 



io6 CHINA AND JAPAN 

the Chinese do not use tablecloths, so this was out of 
compliment to us. We were asked to be seated, and 
were immediately served with the usual sweets, water- 
melon seed, etc., with tea; in each bowl of tea was a 
full-blown rose and tea leaves. The mother-in-law and 
sister-in-law came in and joined us. Here we sat and 
ate while the Chinese women smoked — all using the 
same pipe, passing it from one to another. After an 
hour spent in this way we were invited upstairs to the 
bed room of our hostess. 

We passed through several courts and stone-paved 
rooms, finally coming to a very steep flight of stairs, 
up which we pulled ourselves. The house was very 
neat and clean, something quite unusual for a Chinese 
house, but oh, so unattractive. These poor Chinese 
women have no idea of a happy home life. Without 
extensive changes foreigners can not live in a native 
Chinese house with any comfort. While we were seated 
in the bed room the servants brought us the sweets and 
tea which we had left downstairs. You are constantly 
pursued with that tea — it is carried around after you ; 
wherever you stop, the sweets and tea soon follow. By 
this time we were getting restless and anxious for the 
feast to begin. 

It was now one o'clock and we had been there since 
half past eleven. Finally we were invited downstairs, 
making one more stop before being taken into the dining 
room. I need not go into details about this menu, for 
they are all more or less alike — shark's fins, pigeon eggs, 



CHINA AND JAPAN lo-j 

sea slugs, ducks' tongues, spinal cords, liver, ham, crabs. 
They always have such quantities that there is very little 
opportunity for variety at the different feasts. We do 
not have rice at a feast until everything else is served, so 
we can't put things on the rice as we do at our ordinary 
Chinese meal. There are no plates usually, but at this 
feast we had tiny plates about like a bread-and-butter 
plate at home. 

Our hostess kept insisting upon my being served more 
bountifully, and I would tell her in Chinese that I did not 
care for any more — I had plenty. That was all I said, 
but I was continually repeating it, for she was constantly 
wishing me to have more. Finally she looked at me and 
said that I certainly was very smart ; that 1 could talk 
Chinese all the time, and I was such a new-comer. 
When I got home from that feast I was worn to a 
frazzle. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

A Dinner Given to the American Consul, His Excel- 
lency THE Governor of the Province, 

AND OTHER OFFICIALS 

We are not altogether guilty of taking from the 
Chinese and returning nothing. 

We have just given a large dinner, rather remarkable 
for the friendliness it shows exists between the highest 
officials here and the foreigners. 

The dinner was given at the home of one of the doctors. 
The American Consul-general and his wife came from 
Shanghai. Then we invited the Governor of this prov- 
ince — he is Governor over 20,000,000 people — the Pro- 
vincial Treasurer, the Judge, and the Grain Commissioner. 
There were two ' ' interpreters " also. First let me describe 
the decorations. We banked the mantels in both parlor 
and dining room with chrysanthemums — these two rooms 
are connected with sliding doors. In the middle of the 
table we made a center-piece of pure white ones, then 
put brilliant red dahlias in vases; every vase was filled, 
until the house was a mass of beautiful flowers. The 
dinner was elegant and served beautifully. 

The company was invited for one o'clock. In a short 
time we heard a gong on the street, then the large gates 
were thrown open and a perfect mob — so it seemed to me 
— came streaming in; men with tall felt hats, others 



O T) 




CHINA AND JAPAN 109 

dressed in red, all wearing queer hats, then a man carry- 
ing an immense red cotton umbrella with a ruffle fully 
eight inches deep all around the edge. 

Finally a green sedan chair was brought in by four 
men, which is used only by the officials; in this chair 
was the Provincial Treasurer. The official or mandarin 
dress is different from the dress of the common people. 
The officials all wear a long silk coat which reaches to the 
ankles and buttons straight down the front instead of at 
the side, as the ordinary gown of the common people 
does. There is a square, measuring about a foot, elabo- 
rately embroidered on both back and front of this gown. 
Around the neck is a string of coral, jade, and wooden 
beads as large as small marbles. On the head is a pecu- 
liar style of turban with wide turned-up brim; right in the 
middle of the crown is a ball or "button" about an inch 
and a half in diameter, of coral, glass, gold, etc., depend- 
ing on the rank of the wearer. This knob also fastens to 
the hats of the very high officials a stiff brush of black 
bristles about a foot long — this stands straight out behind; 
the Governor has in the middle of these bristles a peacock 
feather, which is a mark of very high rank. Soon after 
the arrival of the Treasurer came the Governor and the 
rest of the invited guests. Of course, the former had 
still more of a mob in front of his sedan chair. These 
officials are great for ' ' shoddy show. " Think of this man, 
Governor over twenty million people, with all of this 
pomp and show, yet his runners were like street Arabs, 
dirty as could be. The uniforms worn by his retinue 



no CHINA AND JAPAN 

were made of the coarsest cotton and far from clean, and 
absolutely no law nor order about the way they marched. 
There is not the least suggestion of military order about 
anything they do, not even in the drilling of the soldiers ; 
but that is another story, which will fill another letter. 
We then went in to dinner. I shall not bore you with 
our menu — suffice it to say it was all foreign food pre- 
pared by a Chinese cook by foreign recipes, and was twelve 
courses. During the last course one of the servants 
brought in three packages to the Governor. He presented 
one to each of the ladies, Mrs. Fearn, Dr. Margaret 
Polk, and myself. They were all alike, each a package of 
Chinese confections, a very rare kind. His fourth son 
married a few days ago, and this was some of the candy 
presented to him by his new daughter-in-law. 

Now, a Chinese wedding is another interesting event 
I want to write you about when I have the time. So 
many queer, interesting things come up in my life almost 
every day that I want to write you about, but it takes 
time. After dinner we went out to the side veranda, 
where there was one of those automatic swings. These 
officials had never seen anything of the kind, and we per- 
suaded two of them to try it. How I did wish for a good 
light so I could take some pictures for you, but as usual 
the sun refused to shine. All of this time the yard was 
filled with the "hangers-on" gazing at us. Finally they 
took their departure. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

A Tragedy in the Hospital — Experiences with an 

Epidemic 

Some of the disappointments met with in deahng with 
patients are severe at times. The story of the doings in 
the hospital is not a history of all joy and no " set-backs." 

Let me tell you of an interesting tragedy that occurred 
a few days ago. Doctor Trawick was called to the city 
governor's headquarters to see a man who had stabbed 
himself in the abdomen three times. The man was a 
young soldier, who had tried to end his miserable existence 
by suicide. The Doctor had to have four men hold him by 
main force, so determined was he not to allow anything 
to be done to restore him. The family had refused to 
allow him to come to the hospital, so the Doctor had to 
sew up those awful wounds there in that dirty Chinese 
house. The man was lying on two planks in a miserable, 
low, filthy room. The boy resisted him at every move, 
but the Doctor persevered, and finally had him sewed up 
and comparatively comfortable. The next day they 
brought him to the hospital — exasperating, wasn't it.? 
For it could all have been done with so much less trouble 
there if they had brought him right away. Two men were 
set to watch him, for he was demented partially, and was 
determined to take his own life. These poor, unhappy 
people try to end all by the suicide route very often. In 



112 CHINA AND JAPAN 

a short while the wound healed, and the boy made rapid 
recovery; in fact, was about well, was walking around 
the hospital grounds attended constantly by two men. 
About three o'clock one afternoon one of the hospital 
boys came rushing over to our house; he was as white 
as a Chinaman ever gets to be, and called upstairs in 
Chinese something which I could not understand. He 
usually speaks English — is very proud of his ability in that 
line — but in his excitement he resorted to his mother- 
tongue. Doctor Trawick picked up his hat and ran, while 
I went out and hung over the banister to call after him 
• ' What is the matter ? " 

He called back, "My soldier boy has hanged himself ! " 
and was off in a hurry, reaching the boy three or four 
minutes after the messenger came. It seems that the 
soldier had persuaded one of the attendants to leave him 
for a little while — the other one was off duty for the after- 
noon — so while he was left unattended he went under- 
neath one of the verandas, which is about four feet from 
the ground, took his silk belt, which all Chinamen wear, 
put it up through the crack between the planks, down 
through another, tied it around his neck, then, as he was 
so close to the ground he could not even stand up straight, 
he lifted his feet up and held himself in a kneeling posi- 
tion just a few inches from the ground until he was dead; 
one of the students discovered him after he was cold. In 
a few minutes every Chinese man, woman, and child in 
the neighborhood was there, and such a racket as they did 
keep up ! All talking at once: "How strange, after the 



CHINA AND JAPAN 113 

foreign doctor had sewed up those three awful wounds 
and he was about well, he should hang himself ! " So it 
goes — it seems that if a man wants to shuffle off this 
mortal coil he might as well be allowed to do so first as 
last. If that is his desire he certainly will accomplish it 
sooner or later. This was the third attempt this man had 
made on his life. 

During the late winter and early spring there was 
almost an epidemic of scarlet fever and diphtheria, fol- 
lowed by cholera in the summer. Twenty thousand 
Chinese were swept away, but not a missionary had any 
serious illness even. During the epidemic of cholera Doctor 
Trawick and I were almost the only foreigners in Soochow, 
and a part of the time he was the only physician. He 
was called one day to see a family, consisting of the old 
father, his tzvo wives, a daughter-in-law, and her two 
children. The only son was away at school. The father 
and one little granddaughter were the only ones left of 
those who were at home. The old father immediately 
notified his son of the death of his wife, and at the same 
time informed him that he must get another wife, for he 
was the only son, and the grandchild who survives is 
" nothing but a girl.''' Hence the son can not afford to 
lose any time in taking unto himself another wife, who 
will be expected to present the grandfather with a grand- 
son at the earliest possible date. All the plans have been 
completed, and the son is to marry again within thirty 
days. Such is matrimony in this heathen land. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

A Reception to the Ladies of Soochow, and Some 
Interesting Incidents 

During the last few days all the ladies of our Mission 
have been devising wa5's to interest the Chinese ladies 
in a project that promises much to the poor, limited 
women, who have very few opportunities for education 
or social life. 

The ladies interested in building the new school for 
higher-class Chinese girls issued invitations to all of the 
most aristocratic Chinese families they knew. This invi- 
tation was in Chinese, but it asked the ladies to come on 
the following Monday to Dr. Polk's residence. I do not 
know just how the invitation read, but I do know what 
the object of it was. We wanted to get the better class 
of Chinese interested in our Laura Haygood School, 
which we will establish in Soochow. There is always 
such a retinue of servants with each family. The guests 
were expected at three o'clock; I sent my amah at one 
o'clock, so she could help in the preparation before the 
company arrived. 

At two o'clock she returned to tell me that a great 
many of the guests had come and I must go right over. I 
said, "Very well, I will go over in a few minutes." Then 
she decided to wait for me — she is very particular to have 
me do the correct thing from a Chinese standpoint, one of 



CHINA AND JAPAN 115 

which is "Never go out without your amah." So she 
invariably " tags" after me if she sees me start out alone. 
Well ! The ladies were needing her services and I saw 
she was not going without me — I had to go just as I was, 
in my tan Eton suit with white shirt-waist. I very much 
wanted to " dress up, "for the Chinese certainly do appre- 
ciate pretty clothes and fine material; especially do they 
like handsome silk or velvet. When I arrived I found my 
friend, Mrs. Wang, just getting out of her sedan chair, so I 
waited for her and helped her to walk in, her poor little 
feet being so hard to walk on. She is the lady at whose 
house we had the feast a few weeks ago, and is very 
pretty, one of the few Chinese beauties I have seen. We 
went into the parlor, where we were received by the ladies 
and served to cake and tea. Her sister-in-law was with 
her, and was dressed in elegant dark blue velvet, trim- 
med in light blue satin. After a little while I went across 
the street to the chapel, a temporary one in the hospital 
annex ; here the ladies were expected to come after having 
tea. Several missionaries were entertaining them with 
picture-books, just as one would entertain a lot of children. 
I never saw just such a sight as that room presented, 
about half filled with Chinese ladies from the very best 
families in Soochow, elegantly gowned in silks and satins 
and velvets, pearls, diamonds, jewels of all kinds worn in 
profusion. Their tiny feet encased in beautifully embroi- 
dered shoes and their faces painted with liquid whitening,, 
cheeks and lips painted brilliant pink, then a spot of 
crimson right in the middle of the lower lip. The palms 



ii6 CHINA AND JAPAN 

of the hands are also painted, and that afternoon I saw 
for the first time the silver fingernail protectors. You 
know the fingernails of the left hand are allowed to grow 
very long and are then protected by silver or gold shields. 
As I entered the room I was received with quite an 
ovation. Mrs. Zee and her daughter and daughters-in-law 
(two), Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Tsang, all rushed to me, took 
my hands, and asked how I was. 

Mrs. Tsang is said to be the most intellectual and 
literary woman in Soochow. This family are very pro- 
gressive people. Mr. Tsang is not a Christian, nor is she, 
but the)'^ both favor foreign things. He wants to build a 
church and preach in it himself, and can not understand 
why he can't be allowed to do so. They have no chil- 
dren, so have adopted a little girl, who is now about two 
5'ears old. The amah brought the child in and they all 
made a great " to-do " over it. Now, if you could have 
seen that child you would have laughed, I am sure. It is 
hard to describe the costume, but I will do my best. 
First, it had on the trousers which all Chinese, regard- 
less of sex or age, wear; these are cut a little different for 
children; they are not trousers exactly, at least not 
according to our idea. These are folded and bound 
tightly around the ankle with a ribbon, and are quite 
baggy from there up to the waist; in winter they are 
heavily padded. Over this garment this small girl wore 
a white China silk dress, cut foreign style, but after a 
pattern one rarely sees at home except in places re- 
mote from the centers of fashion. On the youngster's 



CHINA AND JAPAN 117 

head was a hat the like of which was never seen before. 
It was made of a grayish green silk over a pasteboard 
foundation, shaped like a sailor hat and trimmed in cotton 
flowers of all colors. Right in the front, in the midst of 
the flowers, was put an elegant pearl — a Chinese woman's 
hair ornament. If you could have seen those Chinese 
women making a fuss over that specimen and the proud 
expression on the face of the adopted mother! She was 
so pleased, for she was sure her child was dressed like a 
foreign lady. The jewelry these women wore was worth 
fortunes; they wear many pearls and much jade, rings, 
earrings, bracelets, and hair ornaments, or rather "head- 
dresses." 

One lad}' especially impressed me. She was dressed 
handsomely in pink silk trimmed in black, and her jewels 
were rare and numerous. I was told her history. She 
was the daughter of wealthy parents and married a man 
of wealth. After her marriage the wealth of her own 
family was lost and her mother is now an amah or serv- 
ing woman. This girl lives in luxury — from a Chinese 
standpoint — dresses elegantly, fares sumptuously, but is 
not allowed to help her own poor mother at all. 

After a few moments spent in sociability, some of the 
lady missionaries made a talk to them about the "Laura 
Haygood Memorial School " for the education of the high- 
class Chinese girls. Mr. Tsang and Mr. Lee each made 
a speech about it, saying the women of China should be 
educated so they could be the companions of their hus- 
bands. The afternoon was very interesting to me. Oh, 



ii8 CHINA AND JAPAN 

if I could only talk to these poor Chinese ladies — they 
are so cordial to me and insist that I come to see them, 
but I am so helpless when I go, for I have not learned 
the "polite language," and it is very difficult to learn, 
for it is not in books. After the exercises were over my 
friend, "Zee ta ta," old Mrs. Zee (she really is not old, 
not yet fifty), went home with one of the ladies, telling 
her she had some important business to talk to her about. 
When she arrived at the home of the missionary she said, 
' ' I want to betroth my five-year-old son to your four- 
year-old daughter; if you will agree to this we will send 
our boy to Soochow College to be educated, and when he 
graduates he can live at your home and learn foreign 
ways, and then when they are old enough they can be 
married." Then another proposition was to betroth her 
two-year-old girl to the five-months' old baby boy of 
another of our missionaries. She said she did not want 
to bind her baby's feet, but if she did not no Chinese 
gentleman would marry her, for her feet would be big, 
and it is almost a crime for a Chinese girl not to marry — 
so the only thing to do was to betroth her little girl to a 
foreign boy. There was great difficulty in making her 
comprehend that foreigners and Christians did not 
betroth their children. She was real hurt over it, for she 
is so in favor of foreign ways and Western customs that 
she wants to adopt them whenever possible. I thought 
it quite pathetic that she did not want to bind her baby's 
feet, and could think of no other way out of the difficulty. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

An Exciting Experience on Bimonthly Trip 
TO Sung Kong. 

Monday I was busy all morning getting ready for our 
bimonthly trip to Sung Kong and Huchow, for we were 
to start that evening. We went down to our boat at three 
o'clock and then out to the Customs, expecting to get 
started on our trip not later than four, but it was quite 
dark when we finally "pulled out." There are always 
many things of interest at the Customs to engage one's 
attention. When we arrived all was quiet and serene, 
only an occasional slow Chinese boat moving along in its 
lazy way, but in a little while we looked up the broad 
canal which runs outside the city wall and saw a small 
launch steaming toward us, with one boat tied on behind. 
Soon it came up to the jetty at the Customs station, with 
its bow against the wharf; by this time we could see the 
smoke from several others in the distance, some larger, 
some smaller. They came up one at a time and pulled 
into place as close to the last arrival as possible. Some 
of the launches had six or seven boats tied onto them. 
At last there were six launches in a row; then you 
should have heard the noise and seen the confusion. A 
crowded railroad station could not surpass the noise, 
for Chinese are very loud talkers. Here we have the 



I20 CHINA AND JAPAN 

noise and confusion of departure without the hurry, for 
Chinese never hurry. 

The boat or barge which is usually tied on behind the 
launch is a long, low boat, and has inside rooms or cabins 
which can accommodate as many as seven people. Now, 
do not think these are large, pleasant rooms, for they 
are very small and far from comfortable. The beds are 
mere "shelves," on which each person spreads his own 
bedding, which he brings with him. On the roof are 
many Chinamen; these are allowed as much room as 
their bedding will cover, and they are put up there as thick 
as they can be crowded. There is an awning stretched 
over this about four feet above the roof. For this accom- 
modation twenty-five cents (Mexican) for a night is paid, 
extra charges being made for food. While waiting we 
happened to be opposite one of these barges, so we 
watched them at their supper. The Chinese, you know, 
eat rice for every meal; of course, other things too, but 
rice always. We saw a group of four or five sitting ' ' tailor- 
fashion," with two or three bowls of "tsay" and meat, 
then a large bowl of rice. In each man's left hand was 
held a bowl of rice, and in his right hand were his chop- 
sticks. He puts his rice-bowl to his lips and shoves the 
rice in with his chop-sticks as hard and as fast as he 
can. They eat very rapidly — the one time a Chinaman 
hurries is when he eats. In a very few minutes these 
men had finished their evening meal. Then a man came 
around with a bucket and collected the empty bowls. 



CHINA AND JAPAN 121 

After him came another man with a bucketful of hot tea 
and small bowls. He would cry out in Chinese: "Do 
you want a drink of tea ? Then hurry up!" The bowls 
were filled rapidly and passed up to the people, who 
gulped down the bowl of scalding hot tea, which was also 
very strong. Perhaps you think I have not been very 
choice in my language, such as "stuff," "feed," and 
"gulp," etc., but these are the only words that will begin 
to describe it, and they fall far short of properly express- 
ing it. These of whom I am writing are, of course, the 
lowest class of Chinese. 

I am glad to say I have never traveled in one of these 
boats, but some of the missionaries do. One can get a 
small room, five by six, with two " shelves " or bunks, and 
go to Shanghai much cheaper than by hiring a boat, as we 
do. Perhaps some day I will have to resort to this mode 
of travel, for I have had to accustom myself to many 
things peculiar to China. Behind this barge are tied on, 
one after another, the boats which are to be towed; in 
one of these we are to be found. There are four launch 
lines running between Shanghai and Soochow, one to 
Hongchow, another to Huchow. 

We were going to Huchow. We did not leave the 
Customs till dark. Soon after we got started our cook 
came in and lighted the lamp, then proceeded to prepare 
dinner on our little oil stove, which was in the front divi- 
sion of the boat. In a little while he arranged the table, 
and then with such a " pleased-with-himself smile" he 



122 CHINA AND JAPAN 

served us first soup, following this, pheasant and several 
vegetables, then pie, and afterward fruit. Think of such 
an elaborate meal on a "slow boat." He took great de- 
light in continuing to give us such meals during our trip. 
We had an accident happen to the launch in the night, 
which delayed us several hours, but at half past ten 
o'clock Tuesday morning we arrived at Huchow. The 
missionaries here always give us a cordial welcome. Doc- 
tor Trawick was busy at the dispensary all day. We left 
on Wednesday, at eleven o'clock. We cut loose from 
the launch in the night, and the boatmen rowed us into 
Sung Kong in time for breakfast. 

Huchow is twenty-five miles from Sung Kong. Here 
we were the guests of former Kentuckians, from whom we 
always receive a genuine Kentucky welcome. A large 
clinic engaged the Doctor all day; in the meantime I 
had a delightful stay with these kind friends. We had to 
leave early that evening, for Sung Kong is near enough to 
the sea for the tide to affect the water in the canals, so 
we must leave while the tide is high. We had some ex- 
periences that night of which I must tell you. We came 
to a narrow part of the canal, where a boat was tied up 
on each side; we had to pass between them. These 
Chinese beat all the people in the world for squeezing 
boats through narrow passages. 

You would think a boat seven feet wide could not go 
through a six-foot space, but a Chinaman will attempt it 
without the slightest hesitation, and never be convinced 
that he can't till his boat is "stuck." Now, the strange 



CHINA AND JAPAN 123 

thing about it is that nine times out of ten he will succeed 
in his attempt to get through. Well, our boatman pro- 
ceeded to squeeze between those two boats. They use 
these long bamboo poles with hooks in the end, and fasten 
their hooks to anything that is stationary, and then pull. 
In pulling that night they banged up against the window 
where I was writing and broke the glass to atoms. The 
boatman hardly knew it, though, for while they were 
working so hard they were yelling at each other in such a 
manner and tone that one might think there would soon 
be bloodshed. This talk, however, is perfectly harmless; 
it is merely a friendly conversation. I managed to keep 
on with my writing until another window was broken, and 
the glass fell around me, which gave me such a shock 
that I put up my letter. Doctor Trawick was out front 
"bossing the job"; he called to me to bring the lamp, 
for our bottles of drinking-water were rolling over the 
floor, and altogether we were being considerably shaken 
and bumped. Finally we got through, and went happily 
on our way. I will explain about the bottles of water. 
We boil, filter, and bottle all of our drinking-water in 
China; it is the only healthy way to do. But to con- 
tinue, about eleven o'clock that night we were awakened 
by an awful burpp, followed by a lot of loud talking. 
There was no mistake this time; there was intense anger 
in their voices. It seems that in the darkness our boat- 
men had run into a fisherman's boat, which was tied up 
for the night. I have written you in a former letter of 
the people who live all the time in these little boats; 



124- CHINA AND JAPAN 

how fifty or more will be tied up along the bank of the 
canal, forming quite a colony. These people living in 
this way are the poorest and lowest type of humanity 
found in these parts. 

Well, such a disturbance as we had stirred up — 
the talking and yelling were awful. I could tell that the 
language was such that I was glad I did not understand 
much Chinese. Our boatmen quarreled back ; finally 
the fisherman said he would go to the of^cial on the gun- 
boat a few yards away and have the question settled. 
Our cook was scared almost out of his wits. We could 
not get away from them ; they made us tie up beside the 
gunboat, but they could not arouse any one on the boat. 
Then he commenced to call for his friends to come to 
his assistance ; things were beginning to look serious. 
Here we were, two lone foreigners miles and miles away 
from our friends, surrounded by a low class of Chinese. 
Finally Doctor Trawick asked how much it would take to 
cover the damage done his boat. The reply came 
promptly — " thirty cents. " He thought he had struck high. 
You should have seen how quickly the damages were 
paid and we departed in peace. Strange to say, I was 
not one bit frightened ; perhaps I do not realize the 
seriousness of these things, but I never get excited or 
uneasy under such circumstances. When we had gone 
only about a hundred yards or so we came to a 
place where a small stone bridge had caved in; we 
tried to pass between the stones, and ran onto one 
'and stuck fast. Then after pulling and tugging for 



CHINA AND JAPAN 125 

fifteen minutes to get off a rock that it had taken us 
just five seconds to get on, we went on our way once 
more, reaching Shanghai at half past nine Thursday 
morning. There was much shopping to be done here, 
for in Soochow there is nothing made for foreigners, the 
storekeepers catering entirely to the Chinese, as there 
are about a quarter of a million of them, and less than 
fifty foreigners. We went to a shop where all kinds of 
willow furniture is made; one can almost furnish a house 
with it, being so cheap and pretty ; we got a beautiful 
willow couch and table for $3.25 in gold. Our little 
reception room is cozy and beautiful, supplied almost 
entirely with this light, pretty furniture. We purchased 
two such exquisite Tien Sien rugs. You have seen these 
in Louisville often, but possibly you did not know they 
were made in China. We spent only one day in Shang- 
hai, for we were anxious to get home to see a friend 
before his departure for America. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

Milk from Water Buffalo — Making Butter — Drill- 
ing OF Soldiers. 

You will be surprised, perhaps, to know that there are 
no cows in this part of China. We get our milk from the 
"water buffalo, "and find it and the cream both very 
rich. The cream is not yellow, nor is the butter, but 
very rich and delightful in flavor. We use whipped 
cream a great deal in cold weather, but if we try to whip 
it in summer we soon have butter. We can not go to 
the grocery as we do in America and buy fresh butter, 
for there is no grocery and the Chinese do not use butter, 
so do not at all understand the process of butter-making. 
Here in Soochow we buy butter in cans or tins as you 
buy tomatoes or corn in Kentucky, and it sells at seventy- 
five cents a pound. Foreigners in Soochow must send 
to Shanghai for most of their marketing ; this is only 
seventy-five miles away, and there are two launch lines 
running every day between these two cities. Here we 
have fruit all the year, and it is used much at "tiffin." 
There are several Chinese fruits which I have never seen 
in the United States, and we have learned to eat and 
enjoy them. The Chinese food is entirely different from 
ours, but we like it and often have a Chinese tiffin 
and use the chop-sticks, for, really, Chinese food does not 
taste right when eaten with a fork. Then instead of 



CHINA AND JAPAN i2j 

plates we use bowls. These are small, and first we fill 
them with rice cooked very dry; on top of this we put 
meat, eggs, tsay — fish — now it is ready for us to eat. 
The faster one eats at a Chinese meal and the more noise 
one makes, the more correct one is. It is wonderful 
how dexterous the Chinaman is with his chop-sticks. 
The dishes are never passed to the guests, but everybody 
reaches over to the center of the table, where the food is 
placed, and helps himself. 

We had a delightful walk a few days ago over to the 
Customs, where we saw some soldiers drilling. My ! 
such drilling ! There were two men each carrying an 
immense red flag with white Chinese characters on it. 
The drum was about the size and shape of a flour-barrel; 
it took two men to carry it. The "drummer-boy" beat 
on this regularly about five seconds apart, and the sol- 
diers were supposed to keep step with these beats — but 
they failed utterly to do it — and just marched slowly and 
stiffly across the drill grounds, without keeping time to 
anything. 

Since our arrival in China I have seen no one from 
my old Kentucky home until last week, when we had a 
visit from Mr. J. and Mr. S., who are making a tour 
around the world. Doctor Trawick took them out to see 
the sights to be seen only in an Oriental village. They 
called at the palace of the governor of this province, 
and knowing the soldiers were drilling not far away 
they thought they would go over and see them. Their 



J28 CHINA AND JAPAN 

sedan chairs were put down on the edge of the drill- 
grounds, and of course the Chinese at once crowded 
around, much more interested in seeing the foreigners 
than in watching the soldiers. Doctor Trawick saw that 
the officers in charge were "petty officers" and would 
possibly be easily persuaded to give them a little "show," 
so asked a guard to call the drill-master, and to his surprise 
he at once did so. As the officer came up to " regula- 
tion distance" the Doctor came to "attention," and he 
immediately saluted in true military style, the Doctor 
returning the salute ; then the officer " approached " and 
began speaking, repeating his salutations. He was 
complimented on his "excellent drilling" and his "fine- 
looking soldiers," to which he replied that these 
were the worst he had. Then he was asked if he 
would not continue the drill for a few moments. He 
replied that they had already drilled for three hours, but 
would be glad to go through with a few simple (.-') move- 
ments for the benefit of the foreign gentlemen. The 
Doctor thanked him and returned the salute — that is a 
dismissal, you know — he "about-turned" in true soldier 
style, walked in a most stately manner out to his com- 
mand and called "Troop to attention!" They saw by 
the formation that what is called ' ' March past for review " 
was being executed. The Chinese — many of them — 
have adopted the German tactics. The three foreign 
gentlemen were amazed, but felt they must "do the 
military thing, " so got ready for it by moving forward 
a few paces on the drill-ground and took their stand at 



CHINA AND JAPAN 129 

*' attention." The soldiers filed up, formed, and marched 
past with as much dignity and gravity as though they 
had been passing the commanding general himself. As 
the different sections of troops filed past, the gentle- 
men saluted each troop in order, then watched them 
go down, wheel, and form in solid straight line. Then 
the drill-master stepped out in front of the line, saluted, 
and the three gentlemen returned the salute; then they 
moved up nearer and saluted again, then the three 
complimented the officer profusely on his excellent 
troop, saluted, and came away. The drilling was really 
horrible, and the soldiers were a mockery, but it was 
funny to see how gravely they marched past, and best of 
all to see those three foreign gentlemen saluting so mili- 
tary-like when it was so ridiculous to them. Don't you 
know it was a ludicrous experience for them to stand there 
on that Chinese drill-ground solemnly saluting those 
Chinese soldiers as though they were the governor and 
his staff.'' The Chinese are great for doing things for 
show or display. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

Feast at Home of Chinese Friend — On Whang-poo 
River — Bride and Groom 

While Doctor Travvick was at the hospital, engaged in 
one of the biggest operations that he has had, a friend 
came to ask me if I would go with her to a Chinese feast 
at the home of one of her Chinese friends. We arrived 
at the place at half past one, were invited in through 
many different rooms, and finally reached a small recep- 
tion room. The " ta-ta " (old lady) was the hostess, 
whom I have met before. The daughter-in-law, the bride 
of two years ago, was present. This was my first real 
personal contact with the "abused daughter-in-law." As I 
have said before, when a Chinese girl marries she becomes 
the slave of her mother-in-law, and is treated cruelly 
sometimes. This poor girl was completely ignored at this 
feast — was treated with no more consideration than a 
servant. While we sat at the table and drank our tea and 
ate sweets — our amahs at another table indulging in the 
same — she sat off alone against the wall and looked on, 
but was never invited to join in the festivities or pleasures 
of the hour. I heard that the family were all disappointed 
in her — say she is too large, too fleshy — so they treat 
her very ugly. As we sat there, Mrs. Ng was ushered 
into our presence; she lives in another part of this same 
house and was invited to meet us, as she had never met 



CHINA AND JAPAN 131 

any foreigners. But she was very polite, and did not stare 
nor act queer, as some do the first time they see a foreign 
lady. This Mrs. Ng is not the wife of Doctor Trawick's 
teacher, nor is she related, though she has the same 
name. There are very few Chinese names; there are 
about a dozen that we meet with constantly. It does not 
argue that people are related because they bear the same 
name. Zee, Wang, Tsang, Chang, Tseur, Ng, Per, Lee, 
these eight are constantly being heard. But I have 
digressed. After about an hour spent at that table eating 
watermelon seed and Chinese sweets and drinking tea, 
we were taken into another room, where the feast was 
spread. I have learned to just taste each thing, at a time 
like this, instead of really eating something at each course, 
as I would do at home. After finishing the meal Mrs. 
Ng invited us into her apartment; her bed room was the 
most attractive I have seen in a Chinese home, clean and 
neat, the walls papered, a large mirror, the bed elabo- 
rately carved. Here we were again offered tea and 
sweets. A Chinese lady came to pay her New Year's 
call, and I was interested in their true "New Year's 
greeting." These two ladies knelt side by side, 
touched their heads to the floor, then arose and 
turned to us, when we were introduced to the new 
arrival. After this we were invited upstairs to see the 
sick daughter of the "ta-ta," our hostess. She has been 
ill for several months, and is now able to be up and walk 
about the house, but with the powder and paint which 
she used profusely we could not see any ill effects of the 



132 CHINA AND JAPAN 

long sickness. Finally we left, and got home at six 
o'clock. 

A call came for Doctor Trawick to come to an interior 
town. We were off from our landing at four o'clock, on a 
larger boat than we have ever had before, hence were 
more comfortable. The boats are all on the same plan, 
but of different sizes. Several days before we left Soo- 
chow our old Bible woman, who was there for a while, 
wanted to go to the same place for which we were bound, 
so asked to accompany us. We told her the only place 
for her was the little front entrance where the stove was; 
there is a narrow seat running the entire length on one 
side of this room, on which she was very glad to sleep, so 
she came. Just as we were ready to leave, a young Bible 
woman asked if she might come also; said she could sleep 
with the old lady if we did not object. So when we left 
Soochow we had in our little boat five boatmen, our cook, 
two . Bible women, and ourselves. You understand we 
hire the boat, so it costs our self-invited guests nothing if 
we allow them to occupy a part of it, hence we never lack 
for company on our trips. We went this time straight to 
Shanghai, reaching there at ten o'clock Wednesday morn- 
ing. We left at five o'clock, going up the Whang-poo 
River ; this being our first trip up this river, we enjoyed 
it very much. We saw great boats of all nations, and 
you can imagine our delight when we saw the dear old 
Stars and Stripes floating from one, which we found on 
closer mspection to be the " Monterey." We stood out 



c 

a 

w 
o 
o 
n 

X 

o 

O 

w 
m 




CHINA AND JAPAN 133 

front watching the interesting sights to be seen only on 
this Chinese river, near the mouth of which is situated one 
of the largest ports of the country. We saw queer old 
Chinese sail-boats, with wooden eyes in front so the boat 
* ' can see where it is going. " Soon it grew dark, and I was 
so chilled that I went inside, where the oil stove was lighted 
and making the room comfortable, but it was not so for 
me. This penetrating, damp cold almost freezes my 
blood; I never felt the cold so before in my life. That 
night our boat cut loose from the launch about three 
o'clock, because the steam launch goes up the river and 
we came "across country," I can never describe the dis- 
turbances of an all-night boat trip; the noise of the 
boatmen, the rocking of the boat, the stopping to tie up 
to the bank while the boatmen have a " little smoke," the 
bumping into other boats whose sleepy occupants are 
aroused and come to quarrel it out. Oh, dear, we think 
traveling all night by slow boat anything but joy, but lots 
of people like it. We reached our destination at seven 
o'clock Thursday morning. 

I must tell you about a Chinese doctor and his bride, 
whom we met here. They are both Christians, so 
wanted a Christian wedding. It is the Chinese custom 
for the bride to come to the groom's home to be mar- 
ried. She arrived in Sung Kong on Tuesday, and Mrs. 
Reed invited her to come right to her home and stay 
until the wedding, which was to be on Wednesday 
afternoon at her house, Mr. Reed performing the 
ceremony. This little couple had not been betrothed in 



134 CHINA AND JAPAN 

childhood, but he had selected her himself two years ago. 
Contrary to Chinese custom they had corresponded all 
these two years, although they had never met, but they 
had seen each other in church often. Well, when the 
time came for the marriage she came downstairs with 
Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Lee, the wife of the Chinese 
preacher. She was to meet the groom in the hall and 
walk in with him, but she clung to Mrs. Lee's hand so she 
could not get away. Finally, however, they were stand- 
ing side by side in front of the preacher. When the time 
came for the ring she refused for a while to have it placed 
on her finger, but after much encouragement she put up 
her little hand and allowed it to be put on. The ring is 
of gold, with a Chinese character on it which he told me 
meant "love." After a wedding supper they went 
to their own little home, which with great delight he had 
been fixing up for her for some time. They came up 
together to see us — this the heathen Chinese never do. 
She is a dainty, attractive little thing, and was dressed in 
light blue silk. She is an educated Christian girl, and we 
are all pleased with the match. They live very near the 
Reeds, and they asked us to go with them to see their 
home, which we did; it is a very attractive Httle 
place for a Chinese house, is furnished in Chinese 
style, but has some foreign chairs in it. They seem to be 
very much in love; he is as happy as a lark — smiles all 
the time. It is truly a love match, and they seem to want 
to do away with the old custom of inequality between 
the two, and of course we are all much interested in them. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

Chinese New Year — Trip to the " Hills " 

Chinese New Year still continues, and we are being 
extensively entertained. Yesterday was a glorious day, 
and we were invited to a Chinese tiffin at the home of 
our native preacher. This was not a feast, but a simple 
tiffin, and was delicious; in fact, this family always have 
delightful meals — the very best of Chinese food and 
cookery. It is the custom on New Year's Eve for the 
Chinese to have a feast and invite their friends, just as we 
do at home on New Year's Day. 

A new building, consisting of six rooms, has just been 
added to our hospital, so the doctors concluded to have a 
" house warming " and serve a Chinese dinner or " feast." 
All the foreigners in " Tien Sz Tsong " (which is the name 
of our settlement) and the Chinese families were invited. 
The fuel that the Chinese use is straw, so a large room is 
always built in the annex for this fuel, and in this room 
the feast was spread. There were four Chinese tables 
and about twenty guests. All of the Chinese who were 
present are Christians, so the gentlemen and ladies 
dined together, something one never sees among the 
heathen. 

To-day our amah (house-woman) has invited us to 
have Chinese tiffin with her. That is the way the invi- 
tation is given, but she will not eat with us. She only 



136 CHINA AND JAPAN 

gives the dinner in our honor, and will serve it in our 
dining room, using our Chinese dishes and chop-sticks, 
of which we have a set. The highest compliment paid a 
guest in China is for the hostess to prepare the meal her- 
self, so our amah will do this to-day. There are other 
friends invited to join us. 

You would be surprised to see how much Chinese I 
"pick up" from my amah, and she is very proud of the 
fact that I can understand anything she says. One day 
two of the Chinese young ladies from the woman's hospital 
came over to call. They understand English but will not 
speak it, so I talked to them in my native tongue and 
they replied in Chinese. Once I could not quite under- 
stand what they said, and the amah, who always stands 
by when I have any Chinese visitors, repeated it to me 
and then I comprehended. She explained to them with 
great pride: "I all the time talk to Dih Sz-Moo (my 
name in Chinese), so she understands me." 

To-morrow we are invited to dine at the house of my 
Chinese teacher. She is a refined, intelligent young 
woman, and I am very fond of her, but we are actually 
afraid that the pheasant and duck which were sent us by 
one of Doctor Tra wick's patients will spoil before we can 
use them, our invitations to dinner and tiffin continue to 
pour in at such a rate. 

Monday we went with some friends who live at the 
Customs to spend the day on the "hills." Soochow 
is almost surrounded by hills and mountains, and it is a 



CHINA AND JAPAN ijy 

great pleasure to get away from home and spend a day on 
the mountain-top. On the morning of our outing the 
amah poked her head in at my room door and said: 
"The weather is big good — you have luck." We were 
soon started on our walk to the boat, amah going on ahead 
with our steamer rugs and foot-stove. Steamer rugs are 
very essential in China, for traveling is done almost 
entirely by boat, this country being so threaded with 
canals. We reached the Customs at a quarter to ten 
and were soon transferred, "bag and baggage," to the 
boat of our friends. Our lady friend and I were each 
tucked into a comfortable willow chair, with our golf 
capes around us, our steamer rugs over us, and our feet 
on our hot foot-stoves; then our husbands bade us good- 
bye, for they preferred walking. Our destination was a 
mountain on which there was a pagoda; this mountain 
is plainly visible from our home on clear days, though it 
is some five miles distant. Our little boat wound around 
through canals, under stone bridges, through quiet vil- 
lages, and finally, after two hours, we came to our 
stopping-place, where our husbands had been waiting 
for us for nearly an hour. That will give you some 
idea of the rapidity with which these boats move. We 
were soon walking up this "big hill," passing on either 
side many grave-mounds, for the Chinese seem to 
prefer the hillside for burying their dead. We walked 
slowly, making frequent stops to enjoy the extensive view, 
for we had a range of vision spreading out before us for 
some thirty miles. Still we were not away from the 



ijS CHINA AND JAPAN 

Chinese, for at the very top there were some poor heathen 
come to worship the ' ' Boosah " in the pagoda. The smoke 
from the incense was pouring out so thick we could not 
enter. From here we could count eight large pagodas in 
the distance, which we could see without field-glasses. 
After some time spent enjoying the view and breathing 
the pure air we wended our way back, gathering moss 
and tiny wild flowers, which were peeping up out of the 
cold ground. At our boat we enjoyed a most delicious 
lunch, and we reached home in time for six o'clock dinner, 
happy from our day in the "woods." 

We were invited to spend the evening at Dr. C's. 
This is outside the city wall, and quite a crowd from our 
neighborhood went with us. To say that some of us 
went in a victoria sounds very grand, but you should see 
one of these carriages! As we drove along at a rapid pace, 
■drawn by a poor beast that would scarcely be called a 
horse in old Kentucky, all of a sudden we had a queer 
"let-down " sort of a feeling, and as we still tore along — 
the horse (.?) having gained such a momentum that it was 
a few seconds before he could be stopped — we saw one of 
the wheels of our carriage lying in the road behind us. 
Amid much laughter on our part, and equally as much 
unintelligible jabbering from our ' ' coachman '' and ' ' foot- 
man," we descended from our victoria and stepped into 
another equally as elegant (.''), which happened along just 
in time, and went on our way without further accident. 
Of course you understand that horses and carriages are 



CHINA AND JAPAN ijp 

only found on the outside of the wall of Soochow, for 
inside the wall the streets are too narrow for a carriage 
to be driven through them. We reached Dr. C. 's at six 
o'clock, the appointed hour, and found the house prettily 
decorated with flowers and ferns. An immense American 
flag served as a portiere. Supper was served at small 
tables in the hall and we had a real jolly evening, reach- 
ing home about eleven o'clock. 

We certainly do have novel and sometimes amusing 
experiences in China. I must tell you of one which came 
to us recently. Doctor and I were out for a walk, and I 
wore a small hat around the crown of which I had twisted 
a red scarf. We are usually followed by a crowd when 
we appear on the street together, but this time we 
noticed that we were avoided, the small boys hastening 
in an opposite direction from the one in which we were 
going instead of crowding around us and staring at us as 
is generally the case. Finally we heard some one say, as 
he ran from us, "The red hat! the red hat!" and then 
we realized that my hat, with its red scarf, was the badge 
of smallpox. I think I shall continue to wear it, and thus 
be rid of the rabble which has proved so annoying here- 
tofore. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

Queer Mode and Experiences in Traveling — House- 
boat — Wheelbarrow — Carriage 

On our last trip to Sung Kong we had some novel ex- 
periences, which I must tell )^ou about. The trip around 
this village through the narrow, crowded canal I have dis- 
cribed to you many times so I will not repeat, although 
it never ceases to be interesting. By the time we had 
gotten away from the city a strong head wind came up, 
and when we were a few miles out we had to tie up to the 
bank, for a perfect gale was blowing. The wind was so 
high that it would at times shake the rattling windows 
with a spiteful jerk ; the black clouds were piled high in 
the north; the wind blew in lumps and balls — irregularly 
— now steady and strong, now almost no wind, then a 
sudden blow almost hard enough to take you off your 
feet, then as suddenly a stop, with almost no wind at all. 
Our boatmen could not manage the boat against such 
force, so we had to let them "tie up." With three ropes 
thrown out — one from the front of the boat, one from the 
middle, and one from behind — we were tied firmly to 
trees or rocks on the bank, and as the wind increased, first 
one end of the boat and then the other would tug at the 
ropes, and such cracking and groaning as did go on in that 
old boat's "ribs!" There was no danger, the only trouble 
was that we simply could not move against that gale. We 



CHINA AND JAPAN 141 

waited, and continued to wait till three o'clock in the 
afternoon, then we concluded to walk back to the village 
and see our friends again. This took us just a half hour; it 
had taken one hour and a half to go by boat — so you see 
walking is the most rapid traveling in China. Our friends 
were expecting us, for they knew we could not move 
against such a wind. After supper we went back to our 
boat, hoping to be able to "pull out" some time during the 
night, but it was six o'clock the next morning before we 
started again on our journey. We still had a strong head 
wind, but no gale. We moved along slowly till half 
past three o'clock, and had only gone eleven miles. 
Think of it ! traveling nine and a half hours, we were 
still fourteen miles from Shanghai. We concluded if 
we remained in that boat we would not get to our des- 
tination till Sunday, so on reaching a little village we 
got off, with our baggage, which consisted of a large 
kori, a suit-case, two hand-bags, a typewriter, two sofa 
pillows, two steamer rugs, and two umbrellas. The native 
preacher was with us, so his baggage, too, had to be 
taken along. We engaged three wheelbarrows, and 
our procession was formed. First came the Chinese 
preacher — he sat on one side and his baggage on the 
other ; next came my wheelbarrow — I had on a golf 
skirt, black coat, golf cap, and was well wrapped in 
my steamer rug and seated on one of the sofa pillows; on 
the other side of my wheelbarrow was my kori and hand- 
satchel to balance me — see ? Bringing up the rear was a 
third wheelbarrow on which was seated, in an easy, negli- 



/^ CHINA AND JAPAN 

gee way, my dignified husband, with his baggage. We had 
before us a ride of eight miles through the country. No 
one can appreciate the difficulties of that ride unless they 
have seen the country and the wheelbarrows ; then you 
must add to that a real desire to get "somewhere" before 
night, and a feeling of desperation in the face of seemingly 
insurmountable difficulties. When we had gone about 
half the distance I got so cold, facing that north wind, that 
we got off and walked just about as fast as we had ridden — 
this was quite a relief ; afterward we got back onto our wheel- 
barrows and continued our journey. Finally we came to 
another small village, six miles from Shanghai; there we 
hired a carriage. Our baggage was piled in and we climbed 
in after it and sat wherever we could. Then we found 
we had a balky horse — that was the climax. It seemed 
we were destined never to get to Shanghai, for every 
"little bit" the old horse would stop and our coachman 
and footman would get down and pull and persuade, and 
finally he would start off again. Darkness came on, so we 
stopped to buy some candles to put into the carriage 
lamps; it took some time to do this, so our horse had gotten 
accustomed to standing still and it took much per- 
suasion to induce him to move. He was like David 
Harum's horse — "he would stand without hitching," 
We had gotten well started again when the bottom fell 
out of our lamps, spilling our candles and leaving us again 
in darkness. Once more we stopped while our driver re- 
placed and relighted our candles, and we came on without 
futher misfortune, reaching the home of one of our friends, 



CHINA AND JAPAN 14.J 

where they had been looking for us for twenty-four hours. 
We had left Sung Kong at nine o'clock Friday morning, 
reaching Shanghai at seven o'clock Saturday evening, a 
distance of twenty-five miles, and had traveled in three 
different kinds of vehicles. We were weary and worn; 
these things are racy and rare, but it don't take many 
of them to do. Home mail awaited us, so we sat up late, 
reading letters from our dear ones in Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. 

I do not remember to have told you how these house- 
boats are towed. A small rope is tied to a bamboo pole, 
which is put into a hole in the front of the boat. The 
rope is then tied around the waists of two men, in their own 
peculiar way, and they walk on the shore about one hun- 
dred feet in front of the boat and pull it along. This 
bamboo pole will bend until the ends are at right angles, 
or rather till the pole forms a semi-circle. When there 
is no tow-path nor wind, so that they can neither "tow " 
nor sail, then they row — the oars are at the stern of the 
boat. 

Along the shores of the canal we see many grave 
mounds. Some one has said " In China we are never out 
of sight of the living or the graves of the dead," for they 
have no place set apart for a cemetery. In our visits to 
the heathen temples we see coffins on all sides. We 
soon lose that awe which we feel at home in the 
presence of the dead, for coffins are seen in the houses, 
in the streets, in the fields, everywhere. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

Funeral Procession — Wedding Procession — Pun- 
ishment FOR Petty Crimes 

I saw a very plain funeral procession while in Shang- 
hai. I heard a great noise in the street, so ran to my 
window and saw some men blowing bagpipes, some one else 
beating loudly on a gong, and then came a man carrying 
"ghost money." This is paper, covered with tinfoil to 
look like money; this "ghost money" is always burned at 
the grave. Next came the "coolies " carrying the coffin. 
A bamboo pole rests on the shoulders of two men, and the 
coffin is swung from this pole by two ropes forming loops, 
one at the head and one at the foot, and as they walk 
they have a kind of song, "Hay ho, hay ho !" with each 
step. Everything, even a piano, is carried in this way. A 
Chinaman can never carry anything without this song in 
some form, and the bigger the load the louder the song. 
One would think they would exhaust their strength with 
the effort to send forth this peculiar, loud noise. But to 
continue. These coolies were carrying this corpse and sing- 
ing away as merrily and loudly as they could. Having 
walked some distance and gotten warm from their 
exercise, they had removed their coats and piled them on 
top of the coffin, as this was most convenient. Following 
the corpse were several jinrickshaws with people in them. 
These people were all dressed in white, with white shoes 




Medical Houseboat and City Wall of Soochow, 



CHINA AND JAPAN 145 

and a piece of unbleached cotton pinned around the fore- 
head and hanging down the back in streamers. The 
funeral of a wealthy man has much more pomp and 
show. 

The Chinese are great on announcing the approach of 
any procession by the sounding of gongs. I saw a wedding 
procession one day that was heralded by the beating of 
drums and sounding of gongs; then came men dressed in 
red, carrying red banners. It looked like a political parade. 
After this came an official on horseback, followed by coolies 
carrying two empty sedan chairs, then came a green chair 
with deep red borders and red curtains. Red is the bridal 
color and green the official color; only very high officials 
are allowed a "green chair." This parade was going 
down to the canal, where there was a boat on which the 
expectant bride was awaiting the coming of the groom. 
A Chinese bride always comes to the home of the groom 
to be married, and this poor girl had just arrived at Soo- 
chow from some village. Later we went down to see 
the "bridal boats." There were three immense boats, 
very handsome and elaborately decorated in red flags. 

The fourth son of the Governor had on that day taken 
unto himself a wife, and this was their wedding procession. 
A Chinese bride is often a most miserable girl; she goes 
from her home to another where she is unknown, even to 
the groom, for a Chinese gentleman never courts the girl, 
nor does he choose her for himself; the arrangements 
are all made by a third person. As soon as she is a 
daughter-in-law she is the slave of her husband's mother 



14-6 CHINA AND JAPAN 

until she has a son of her own, then she has a Httle more 
respect paid her. If she is so unfortunate as never to be 
the mother of a son, she is considered a useless burden. 
There was a little wife here who was treated miserably 
by her mother-in-law; one of our missionaries was 
sympathizing with her, and during the conversation said to 
her, "When you are a mother-in-law you will be kind 
and lovely to your daughter-in-law, and in this way teach 
your mother-in-law a lesson in kindness, won't you.'" She 
promptly replied: " Indeed, I mean to get even, and will 
treat her even worse than I am treated now;" What is to 
be done for these abused Chinese women } Sometimes a 
wealthy man will have as many as ten wives; the richer he 
is the more wives he seems to have, and of course there is 
jealousy and strife between them. Think of 400,000,000 
people living in such depravity. Surely they need Chris- 
tianity. 

Another day I saw a Chinese policeman walking down 
the street with a nicely but plainly dressed woman. She 
had her head through a large board, which fit closely 
about the neck, and she carried a fan which she used to 
protect her eyes from the sun. When she reached a tree 
she stopped, and soon a crowd gathered around her and 
stared at and talked to her. I afterward learned she was a 
criminal and was sent out by the authorities to walk the 
streets as a warning to others. She seemed very cheerful 
and not at all mortified at the situation. This is a very 
common mode of punishment for petty crimes. 



CHAPTER XL 

Chinese Superstitions 

I am sitting here feeling the quietness of this beauti- 
ful Sunday morning. The clock is briskly ticking away; 
the little flame is rustling in the stove; I hear the saucy 
chirp of a sparrow just outside my window; the sun is shin- 
ing merrily, and the dear, sweet violets are almost singing 
loud enough for me to hear them in the peaceful stillness 
that fills the air, the rooms, and our own happy hearts. 
I am not going to church this morning, for the services 
will be in Chinese, and it is difficult for me to understand 
to profit, so I am going to tell you of a recent walk, and 
other examples of Chinese superstition similar to those 
in a former letter, though different. As we went down 
the slippery stone street, up over the irregular steps of a 
bridge and down again, we met a strange procession. A 
sedan chair draped in deep, dark blue, preceded by two 
boys dressed in the same shade of blue, bearing lanterns 
painted partly black, on which were large blue Chinese 
characters. In the chair was seated a handsomely dressed 
lady, rather young and of delicate features. In her lap she 
had a basket with some articles of clothing — a man's Chi- 
nese hat, and some trinkets. The face of this lady was 
peculiarly interesting — refined, delicate, and olive-com- 
plexioned, but with deep lines of anxiety or sorrow clearly 
marked there. We afterward learned that this woman 



148 CHINA AND JAPAN 

was out to seek for the spirit of some one who was sick 
in her house. She had taken this hat and some clothing, 
a piece or two of finger-nail, a few strands of hair, placed 
them in this tray or basket, and was on her way with her 
lighted lanterns to the place where the person was supposed 
to have contracted the disease, for it was at that place 
the man's spirit had been stolen from him, and there it 
must be sought. Arriving at the place the woman takes 
her lantern and searches all about for any live thing — a 
cricket, a worm, a bug, anything with life will answer the 
purpose. It is believed that the devil has stolen the spirit 
of the sick one and put it into some live thing. This insect 
is put very carefully on the article of clothing brought 
from the sick one, covered with the hat, and the woman 
returns to her home. Then the most pathetic part of 
the ceremony is gone through with — this is the "calling 
for the spirit to return." We have heard several of the 
Chinamen say that this calling is very weird and impress- 
ive — the long, wailing cry, calling the sick one's name, 
ending with a beseeching ^' come back!''' that is really 
frightful. This belief in the power of some evil spirit 
to take away one's health is very wide-spread in China; 
that disease is some form of witchcraft, and that the 
main force of a disease is some evil spirit. We have 
a very interesting little package in our collection of 
curios; it is a small bunch of hairs with one guaranteed 
to be a "little, long, black devil." The story is this: 
A man came into the dispensary very much excited, and 
showed the doctor, with quite an air of secrecy, this 



CHINA AND JAPAN 14.9 

package, and explained how he came by it. He had for 
some time been suffering from pains in his chest. They 
were peculiar — would "jump around," dart through his 
body just like "little devils." Nothing he could do 
would stop them until he consulted a Chinese doctor (?) 
in the village, who gave him a paste of lime, telling him 
to rub this over his chest and the devils would come out. 
The victim obeyed instructions, and sure enough that 
night after he had applied the paste he found long hairs 
lying on his chest — "the very little devils themselves" — 
caught as they were coming out through the skin. The 
mystery is easily explained when we remember the paste 
was to be applied at night, and it was an easy matter to 
rub a few hairs in with the "ointment." A man suffer- 
ing from chills and fever will get rid of his tormentor in 
a most stealthy way. He will take several hairs from his 
head, pieces of finger-nails, dead skin, etc., wrap 
them up carefully in red paper, and steal out at night and 
drop the package in the street. Next day some unsus- 
pecting victim, with more curiosity than discretion, inves- 
tigates this curious package, and the "devil" of the dis- 
ease, transmitted by the remnants in the package, imme- 
diately passes from the old subject to the new, the one 
who has suffered so long presumably being freed from the 
disease. 

So you see the foolish superstitions of these people, 
which can only be eradicated by the Gospel. Education 
does not do it, for the best educated and most intelligent 
have their superstitions handed down from their ancestors. 



China and Japan 

By 

Mrs. EMMA P. K. TRAWICK, 

Soochow, China. 



"To say that they ss^ fine but faintly expresses their worth. 
What a writer she is ! " 

"I have read every word of the letters with great interest, 
especially the description of Japanese life and travel. Mrs. Trawick 
really possesses a rare gift of description, of which she is apparently 
unconscious." 

" They are so life-like, giving an inside view of the home life of 
these people in such a pleasant and beautiful way." 

"She has open eyes for all the strange sights of that far-off land, 
and the knack of expressing herself in a way that charms and fas- 
cinates her readers. Compared with ordinary letters of travel, her 
correspondence is like a dew-laden June rose alongside of an artificial 
flower." 

" Instead of telling about things which hundreds of others have 
written up, Mrs. Trawick describes a Chinese dinner, giving the 
various courses and telling how they were prepared and served. She 
tells of the costumes, the manners, the forms of polite societ}^ and 
throws a charming light on the social side of the Chinese people. Not 
because she is a Louisville girl, but because she is a clever corre- 
spondent, I honestly believe she is the best letter-writer we have had 
abroad for many a long day." 

"Mrs. Trawick's letters are out of the ordinary. They picture 
life in China as few have pictured it. The little feasts, the domestic 
career, the priests, the gardens, the boating, all the manners and 
customs of the country, and all written in a simple, natural style." 

' ' She has, in fact, given the most graphic account of life in the 
Orient, and so widely read and so praised have these letters been that 
her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Kendrick, are going to publish them 
in book form." 



"They are rich in information and description, and their charm- 
ing conversational style renders them peculiarly attractive. Their 
preservation in book form can not fail to be a treat not only to her 
many friends but to the reading public as well. To those who can 
not see for themselves it is delightful to be served by the eyes of one 
who looks so closely and reports with such fidelity and grace." 

' ' These letters have been carefully edited and condensed, and will 
be presented in permanent form, to the delight of the many friends 
and admirers of this gifted Christian woman; and there are thousands 
who will find in the promised volume that which will mark it as one 
of the rarest and most valuable books of the kind that has been 
published in the last decade." 

" While they were coming out, I looked for them from week to 
week, and always read them first, before turning to anj^hing else. 
Thej' were written so gracefully, they told so naturally the experi- 
ences of a stranger in a strange land, they showed so vividly the 
impressions made upon a keen-eyed, thoughtful, young American 
woman, that I shall be glad to renew my satisfaction in reading them 
over from beginning to end in complete form." 

" Mrs. C. P. Barnes, Ex-Recording Secretary of General Federation 
of Women's Clubs, recommends Mrs. Trawick's (nee Emma Penton 
Kendrick) letters to Women's Clubs, Travel Classes, and Missionary 
Societies for authentic descriptions of Chinese and Japanese life as 
existing to-day. Her letters are from the view point of an intelligent, 
observing, and discriminating American woman." 



Illustrated with numerous halftones and a likeness of the author. 

JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY, 
Louisville, Kentucky. 



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